Western New York

[Galena]

Greetings NY peeps, there is someone in Upper NY about to do something tremendously stupid.

http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...d=1#post326109

So if any of you know this guy, go do the right thing and stop him.

[wnybassman]

Done for a while I guess. Finished up the last 70 gallons of sap tonight, for a total of 357 gallons of sap for this latest run. Not too bad, but it's going to be dark stuff. Not even sure I'll be able to stay in the dark robust range. I may drain the entire evaporator tomorrow, boil it down, and start from scratch when it decides to be spring again for a half a shot if making anything lighter again this season.

[millscrest]

With this extremely cold weekend, I made a road trip to the Fingerlakes NY area this morning. I found a like new Sunset 545 gallon stainless steel milk tank with the working compressor and cooling unit. Not a scratch on the tank. Perfect shape!!!!!!. When I was talking with the now retired farmer he mentioned that he had 2 surge vacuum pumps with the electric motors on them that he would throw in on the deal as well. I also picked up 3 stainless steel milk pails all for $700. I feel I did ok. Can't wait until next year now. To cold outside to even was the road salt off the tank.

[MapleMark753]

We've been cleaning up storm damage from last week, like lots of others. Wind took down many trees but only one blocking anything so that's good. Roof partially blew off the shack when I was in it (), but it repaired pretty easy. I've never felt wind that strong, and I think it was close to record strength. I've heard 80 plus mph, but am not sure. Finished up some nice tasting Very Dark today, and had power so could clean up with hot water finally. Some in our area had power out for 4 days like us, others had no interruption whatsoever. Very glad that's over. Looking forward to the thaw this coming weekend. We'll see. We will be here and open for the Maple Weekend deal, but aren't officially participating this year. Good luck to those who are, hope it goes great for you.
take care, Mark

[wnybassman]

I spent the evening doing something else sort of maple related I have been putting off, but with this cold weather seemed like a perfect thing to do. Bottled up a five gallon carboy of cider I fermented with five pints of syrup this fall. Man, did that turn out good!! It was a very slow ferment over a two month period before it finally quit. Been chillin' ever since.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

I spent the evening doing something else sort of maple related I have been putting off, but with this cold weather seemed like a perfect thing to do. Bottled up a five gallon carboy of cider I fermented with five pints of syrup this fall. Man, did that turn out good!! It was a very slow ferment over a two month period before it finally quit. Been chillin' ever since.

Would love to try that. An equipment dealer here made a distilled sap liquor with orange peels. It's very good.

[berkshires]

I spent the evening doing something else sort of maple related I have been putting off, but with this cold weather seemed like a perfect thing to do. Bottled up a five gallon carboy of cider I fermented with five pints of syrup this fall. Man, did that turn out good!! It was a very slow ferment over a two month period before it finally quit. Been chillin' ever since.

Wow, that's a lot of syrup in there! That would up the brix by about 8 points! Finished product would be almost like a wine if it fermented out all the sugar.

I used to brew a lot of hard cider, so I'm curious - did you use a very dark syrup? Can you taste the syrup flavor much in the finished cider?

Gabe

[wnybassman]

Wow, that's a lot of syrup in there! That would up the brix by about 8 points! Finished product would be almost like a wine if it fermented out all the sugar.

I used to brew a lot of hard cider, so I'm curious - did you use a very dark syrup? Can you taste the syrup flavor much in the finished cider?

Gabe

One recipe I saw called for a pint per gallon, so that's what I went with. I used three "very dark" pints and the other two were "amber rich" I believe. A majority of the sweet that came through was appley, but I think I can detect a hint of maple to. That could be because I know it's in there also, I don't know. Most of what I have made the last couple years came out quite dry, which I am fine with, so I was surprised this ended up kind of sweet.

[jimsudz]

Local micro brewery used some of my syrup to make some beer. It is the feature beer of the week. They call it Sudzy's Maple Ale. The brewery is called Windy Brew it is in Sheldon on Rt 20A. I may stop in this evening to try it out.

[Waynehere]

With this extremely cold weekend, I made a road trip to the Fingerlakes NY area this morning. I found a like new Sunset 545 gallon stainless steel milk tank with the working compressor and cooling unit. Not a scratch on the tank. Perfect shape!!!!!!. When I was talking with the now retired farmer he mentioned that he had 2 surge vacuum pumps with the electric motors on them that he would throw in on the deal as well. I also picked up 3 stainless steel milk pails all for $700. I feel I did ok. Can't wait until next year now. To cold outside to even was the road salt off the tank.

Holy Batman.... How on earth did you find this guy? I have been scouring Craigslist for a while now looking for something nearby. Great find man.