Tapping in Western PA

[Hoppy]

I collected almost 50 gallons today from 15 taps. First boil tomorrow!

Nice!

I finished half a gallon of syrup tonight. Also had a very successful run through my filter setup with one oops.
I'll try and get some pictures of it. But basically it's two 2 gallon food grade buckets and one lid. I cut the inside of the lid out and put it on one bucket which also received a nylon fitting which was 1/4" MPT and 3/8" hose barb. The other bucket had the bottom cut out of it.

This whole idea was based on a filter setup that I saw on youtube which was by a guy that I think is on here. Peter Griffin was in the video.

Anyway, I bought a $2 piece of polyester felt at micheals to be the filter material. The filter sheet is set over the bucket with the lid/hole in lid. The bucket without the bottom is pushed down into the lid and squeezes the filter tightly. I then hooked up a brand new little hand vacuum pump (fluid transfer pump) to the hose barb. The just finished syrup is poured in and about 10 pumps with the little pump and the 1/2 gallon was sucked right down through. It was great. Of course when I lifted the top off I forgot to hold on to the felt and it fell into the freshly filtered syrup! I pour it back to the pot, rinsed the filter and brought back to boil then did it again. It's a lot clearer than the other nights syrup which had a bunch of sediment in it. Now, I bet it could be clearer. Not sure if it would help with a better cloth or just not dropping it in like a klutz.

Recommendations on filter cloth would be great to hear. Thanks!

[sbedilion]

Busy weekend standing by the fire. I was pretty disappointed w the ratio from my first boil. 125gal down to 1.5gal. Final product was nice tho. Made it most of the way through my second boil...100gal down to about 4 gal concentrate. Might finish that up tonight. I checked my sap barrels yesterday afternoon...Have about 60 more gallons waiting. I'll probably collect it Wednesday and Friday...and boil this upcoming wkend.

I have to bribe some of my shop guys (welders) with some syrup to finish my new pan 3ft x 4ft flat pan. Currently I have two 3ft 2ft flan pans. The new pan will be the same size as my current two but hoping I can easily put a valve on my sap tank and let the sap trickle into the boiling pan. Hand feeding batches of 100+ gal makes for a loooong day. Hopefully I can just feed the fire and walk away for some time.

1stBatch2018.jpg

[Gary R]

It wasn't a great day yesterday. I only got 255 gallons of sap. I started my boil and after a while I wondered why I had so much "steam" coming off my front pan. Checked my stack lids and OK. I forgot to open the valve between the front and back pan. Entire sugar shack was now full of smoke! I dumped some water in and waited for the fire to die. Two channels are totally burnt and warped. I also have a leak. I think the solder got melted out of a joint. Fortunately I had a new spare front pan. Two hours later I'm back boiling. Boy did I screw up.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary,
Sorry that you burnt your pan. You are one of the elite group of sugarmakers now. Hope you can repair/ save the burnt pan too! Recovery is everything!
Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Cold here today, hoping for one more warm up to get another run before the big Feb freeze!
Checked the evaporator this morning and it did not have any ice in it. Sugar content must be high enough to help keep it from freezing. I did install a small electric heater in the firebox just in case.
Since Saturday afternoon We have gathered and boiled in approx 1200 gallons of 2% sap and have 14 gallons of Amber syrup, plus the work in process in the rig.
All systems tested and functioning. Still having a lot of issues with big draws and making syrup in the center partitions. Mostly due to the design of my AOF system being just under the pan sides.
Regards,
Chris

[heus]

Chris great to hear you have already made syrup. Im still only about half-tapped, and dont plan to boil until after the big Feb freeze up.

[Sugarmaker]

Heus,
Feel I am a little early, but only time will tell. Will know for sure by first of April! Glad your right at it! Your Dad still helping you boil? Any new additions to your sugarhouse this season?
Thought we might make some light syrup? Mother nature says not yet!!!
Regards,
Chris

[Polish Wizard]

I get a kick reading posts from folks in my South Hills of Pittsburgh neighborhood.
I do all my hobby maple at our other property in Mercer County, but due to family issues I haven't had the opportunity to consider heading north for tapping in spite of the recent weather.
Hopefully that will all change and I can get north this weekend to get the process started.
I only use 50 taps, but it's provided enough sap to allow me to pass around some syrup to family and friends.
Besides weather dictating tree donations, if I start this weekend I'll be about the same schedule as last year.

If you folks in the South Hills are considering building an arch that includes firebrick, I'll suggest considering a vendor called Dealer Depot in Monongahela.
We built my system in 2016, and since my head architect and welder guru lives in Washington County we found Dealer Depot to be convenient, friendly and low cost.
You can see a picture of my set-up if you look into my gallery.
It includes a fan to provide AUF (that works really well) and buffet pans for me to play 3-card Monty with sap before switching to a propane turkey fryer for finish.

[sbedilion]

PolishWiz....I find it amazing that within 2 miles of my house in Peters, there are 3 other maple people tapping neighborhood trees. 2 of them are on here! haha.

Thanks for the heads up. I will be building an arch before next season.

[Hoppy]

Polishwizard,
Thanks for the heads up from me too. I'll keep Dealer Depot in mind. I think I have to build something for next year that fires with wood.
I have a barrel and am thinking of maybe using that and insulation and firebrick is a good idea for it.

My son and I keep our eyes peeled for more taps in the woods as we're driving around!