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Thread: Tapping now in southwestern Ohio

  1. #51
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Madison Township, Ohio
    Posts
    7

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    Hello Everyone in southwest, Ohio!

    I'm gearing up for my first sapping season. Read a few books and took some notes. Read a lot of great information on here! Ordered a ton of supplies, made a 55 gal evaporator and another incase I need to use both. Going try to tackle about 100 taps this year, 60 of them on three 3/16 gravity feeds and the rest on 5 gallon buckets and/or jugs. I feel pretty good about everything that I have done, but I'm trying to not to overwhelm myself being my first year. I'm a full time teacher and I'm wondering when should I run my lines and when should I tap? I would like to take advantage of my free time during Christmas break if possible or even run lines before. Any advice for a rookie is very much appreciated.

    Can I boil sap down to a certain point then finish it later possibly the next day? I am trying to work with my students at our school in the foods and cooking classes (free labor), so they can experience making it. Thank you for any suggestions and/or advice. It is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Cuse
    Rookie Sapper
    West Middletown, Ohio

  2. #52
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    troy, ohio
    Posts
    224

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    Welcome Cuse,
    I'm north of you west of Troy. I work for Norfolk southern railroad and spend a lot of time in middletown. To answer a few of your questions. I run and try to get most of everything prepped between Christmas and New Years. That way when the weather starts to cooperate all I have to do is tap and wait. When you have near to finished syrup you can finish the next day but keep it cold if not nearly froze. At times I'll put it in freezer. The longer you wait though time allows for bacteria to set in again and possibly ruin your near syrup.
    2021
    2x8 CDL raised flue w/ hoods
    SMOKY LAKE SS filter press
    825i JD gator
    400 taps and growing
    SL steam bottler
    250 CDL RO

  3. #53
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    1,349

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    welcome cuse, You are about to willingly infect yourself with a disease....just so we can say you were warned I am a southern Ohio guy too. I'm just about two hours east of you. Asknupp is right, go ahead and get your lines up and do as much prep work as you can. You want to be ready to walk out and tap come late January. I will say you have quite an aggressive plan for working a full time day job, I guess your not planning on sleeping the whole month of February, huh. 100 taps to start with and work is a lot when your learning. As asknupp said, near syrup can be finished later, but you must keep it cool. Also, it is very important to store your sap well, it if sets above 40 it will spoil and you will need to clean everything that has been in contact with spoiled sap or near syrup. It will also be darker if you wait. You will have a lot of fun with the students helping finish. There is a lot they can learn from testing density and learning temperature fluctuations effects on when syrup is "done". Filtering and bottling will be good experience for them.

    what size evaporator have you built? With 100 taps you will get anywhere from 50-150+ gallons of sap on good days. I run around 100 taps with a Smokey Lake Hybrid full pint pan with AOF. If I am very attentive to my firing I can average 12-14GPH and hit 16-17 at times. Most of the time I get 10-12GPH, because I have plenty of time and I don't watch my fire as close as i should. On strong days I will have close to 100 gallons of sap or more and I push my rig hard and those are 6-10 hour days, by the time I finish and clean up. So I hope you have a big enough rig or a strong heart. Oh yeah, have as dry wood as you can get and split it small and fire often. Enjoy the adventure.

  4. #54
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Adams County, Ohio
    Posts
    289

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    Good luck Cuse! I am a full time teacher as well which can be good and bad. That break is good for prepping and occasional snow days are always welcome. It can be tough keeping up, but I have always managed. I like you idea about having students help finish it off.
    2' x 6' / Kawasaki Mule 610/twin 35 gal. tanks
    Arctic Cat TRV 650/Trailer w/ 60 gal. tank & 5 gal. jugs
    In the foothills of Appalachia
    http://www.facebook.com/newmanmaple

  5. #55
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Madison Township, Ohio
    Posts
    7

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    Thank you guys for your responses, warnings, and advice. The brutal cold, life, and hunting season set me back a little, but ran two gravity lines ready and will run two more today. I should end up with the majority of my trees on lines. I'm not sure of my total tree count because have some marked trees that may be too small. My barrel boiler is ready and I have plenty of wood (I hope). I agree 100 taps my first year is a little aggressive for my first year, but a couple of sleepless nights will be worth proving my wife (who thinks I'm crazy lol) wrong will be worth it! I used some information from this site and help from my students I decided to build a RO system. It's not the prettiest thing I've ever built, but hopefully it gets the job done. I had an old student who had a uncle with some barrels and ended up with two IBC totes. I am very excited about the season. Thanks again for answering my questions and the advice. I am infected Buckeye Gold!!!

    I saw a few people were tapping yesterday, so I put out 6 taps that were in random places to get my feet wet. So, well see what happens. I'll let you know!

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Lawrence County Ohio
    Posts
    350

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    I did 125 on 3/16 last year, pretty high elevation drop. I ended up with 250+ gallons of sap the first day! I also made a barrel arch, 2 1/2 barrels end to end with 18"x42" drop flue and 18"x30" syrup pans on top. With a blower under it I maxed out about 18 gph, had some LONG nights at first. You might want to just tap half at first to see what kind of yield you get from your 3/16. I was overwhelmed butt was a good learning experience. I hoped to already e tapped, but I have a few more drops to cut in and some bags to hang. I got an RO so this year shooting for 300 taps! Welcome to the Maple bug.
    '12 15 jugs - Steam pans
    '17 125 3/16 - 18" x 72" drop flue on homemade arch
    '18 240 3/16 - Deer Run 125
    '19 450 3/16 - Converted RO to electric/added a membrane
    '20 600 3/16 - Maple Pro 2x6 Raised Flue, added AOF/AUF
    '21 570 3/16 - Built steam hood, Smoky Lake filter press
    '22 800 3/16 - Upgraded RO to 4 4x40
    '23 500 3/16 - Re-plumbed RO, new "Guzzler"
    '24 500 3/16 - Steam Away, DIY 8x40 RO

  7. #57
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    1,349

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    I put out 70 on 3/16th and they were running pretty decent by late afternoon. I already had 40 from fall out, but right now I'm not keeping that sap. If I get good flow off the 70 I will just stay with them and probably pull the 40. I plan to let them run for a while and see what they do on 3/16.

  8. #58
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Madison Township, Ohio
    Posts
    7

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    Thanks for the advice! If I tap my 3/16th now how long before they dry up? Also, Can you tap a tree more than once in a season? Or are the trees I tapped the other are done for the season after the hole dries up? Thanks again

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    1,349

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    cuse, one tapping per season. Some have reamed holes and went to a bigger spile, but I would not do it Univ. Vermont (Dr Tim) has a lot of info on this. You should get 6 weeks out of your taps and perhaps more. Flow will slow as your taps get older,but they'll be doing ok. The taps I put out for fall I tapped on December 17th and they are still going good.

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