2018 Season

[Gary R]

Ha! Sugarmaker knows me and speaks the truth All you guys have been hard at it and fueled the desire for more. I've got almost 200 holes dripping on the ground for over a month. The temps have still been a little cold and not running great on the new taps. Here's a picture of what I plan to do. My only concern is the stainless warping real bad and not sealing where the flue pan would be. It's about an 1.5" X 22" area for the smoke to go to reach my stack.

It's been great to read all the small operations working hard and making great syrup!front pan boil.jpg

[HowardR]

The 13 gallons of syrup that I made yesterday and today officially puts me into season record territory! Previously, my record season was 2015, a late but intense season that began on March 11 and ended on April 4. And this season is far from over!

[HowardR]

My wife says to me at supper, "Did you see the note from your sister that your cousin from England will be visiting in June?"

Says I, "We'll be able to show her how we make maple syrup, just because... [sung to the tune of "This is the song that never ends"]:

This is the run that never ends,
yes it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started tapping, not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue boiling it forever, just because...

This is the run that never ends,
yes it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started tapping, not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue boiling it forever, just because...

[Sugarmaker]

Had a good pancake meal at Wiggers in Clymer NY today then stopped at several local sugarhouses too!
Gathered 300 gallons of sap tonight. not sure of the sugar content but had lots of ice. Over the last 6 weeks we have been froze up for 4 of those weeks. Resting at 83.5 gallons of syrup.
Will boil in the morning!
Yes the season that doesnt want to start or end. We just keep making syrup off into the sunset!
Regards,
Chris

[Plutoman15]

Had a great 2 week run in south central Pa but froze up on Tuesday. Starting tomorrow suppose to be 40’s/20’s for the next 7-8 days. I accidentally let some boiled down sap run over some burnt sugar on the side of my pan and turned it dark. Hoping it doesn’t effect the flavor. Should start flowing tomorrow again despite the 14 inches of snow we just got.

[Sugarmaker]

Made 5 gallons of B grade syrup with good flavor today.Puts us at 90 gallons of syrup for the year. May have to cut some more flat wood If the sap runs next week. Still cold and my taps aren't preforming well.
Went to friends and almost burnt up his soldered pans. Was watching syrup come off. I wasn't watching for sap input in the float box and ran the head tank dry. Luckily we got sap in the sizzling scorched pans and it did not seem to be leaking! Wow that was close! Yikes! felt pretty foolish! When he shuts down I will help him check and scrub it up.
Moral of the story is to check for sap levels when boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[helptheold]

I wish I had more firewood/motivation. Looks like the season could drag on for another 2 wks. Crazy. I did my last boil last night....it was by far my fastest boil. I ran out of firewood so I was using heat treated (not chemical) pallet boards from work. It was nuts...my pan looked like a pan that had drop flues would have looked. Concentrated it down to about 8 gallons. Next year Im fab’ing up a 1x3 syrup pan so I can finish on the fire or get it close....limiting the longer stove top finishing time.

Should finish the season w a total around 13-14 gallons. Im pretty happy with that for being a driveway hobbiest! I have sold 1/3 of my stash to friends...covering all expense for the season . Not sure if i’ll shoot for more next yr or if ill just try and be more efficent (R.O.).

Good luck to everyone still plugging away!

Since I plan to get an RO next year I think I might be able to expand to actually sell a little to friends, what'd you charge?

[sbedilion]

Since I plan to get an RO next year I think I might be able to expand to actually sell a little to friends, what'd you charge?

$8 for 8oz bottle. $10 for 12oz. Let me know if you need a pan or something. I work at a metal fab shop
and can hook you up for next to nothing.

I just finished my last batch. 2 gallons of really good tasting syrup. I put it in quart size jars to give to family members. Im officially overloaded . Its a lot of work but i enjoy being able to give away syrup to close friends and people that i owe favors too...plus breaking even (i made a couple bucks actually).

Still a couple weeks left in the season but Im cleaning up...for the second time tomorrow. Boil on this wkend!!!!!

[Paddymountain]

I pulled the plug last night. Collection from Monday night to last night was only 90 gallons, we cannot
continue with only that much. Boiled it last night, but have to boil out the evaporator yet.
I tallied up the sap collected ; 4240 gallons from 445 taps since Jan 29. It's been a long season
and if we knew the future I would of tapped somewhere around the end of February, that being said
not a terrible season, not near as bad as it looked mid February!
Will post syrup total when everything is bottled.

[HowardR]

I pulled the plug last night. Collection from Monday night to last night was only 90 gallons, we cannot
continue with only that much.

Paddymountain, sorry to hear that you are packing up. I've got the opposite problem. I tapped so many trees midseason that I'm getting huge runs. In fact, I just put 14 gallons of sap into my freezer because the temperature for Wednesday is forecast to be 55 degrees and I'll probably need frozen sap cubes to keep sap cool that I can't process right away.