Russ
"Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!
1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
Four chainsaws and no chickens!
Finished with my soffit and fascia this morning. Received my Auber Instrument auto draw-off panel the other day and am ordering the valve this week. I decided to turn my cupola doors around and open them out so I can screen the inside instead of the outside. Next is countertops and 100 other little things.
Matt,
Minehart Gap Maple
The sap suckers had girdled the top of a big red maple near my sugar house. I cut it down and cut it up this morning. Some of the wood will go into the evaporator and the rest will go into the OWB.
Russ
"Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!
1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
Four chainsaws and no chickens!
I worked more on the power to my shop. The last thing I did was drive 2 ground rods. Then I need to string the #4 copper ground from the ground bar to stake #1, then stake #2 and then back into the same ground bar in the panel. Then I tie the wires into the panel in the sugarhouswe and I can energize the shop panel. The rest will be done in spare time after a task is finished with a little time left to work. Then this week I've got 2 tasks in mind, bottle more syrup and process that 1 more big sugar maple log I spoke of a few days ago into firewood.
Then I might put the woodstove I have into the shop and run the chimney, it will soon be cold enough to want some heat in the shop, while I do more wiring.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.
Been working on cleaning things up in the sugar house, doing some firebrick work, door gasket and pan seals replaced. Firewood all split and stacked (I use the leftover stuff from my home heating stash and split it up small for the half-pint) along with some slab wood from a local Amish mill. Also, my woodlot has a 2.5 acre stand of Black Locust. Managed time to cut and split about 5 face cord for the 2020 season. Hope this stuff works out OK, never burned any of it before.
Looking forward to the coming season with hopes of making some great syrup.
2016 - helped at afriend with a small operation, 300+ taps. = hooked
2017 - 20 taps @ home, 1 gal @ home on propane, then hauled to friends operation
Bought a whole shack locally, with a Leader 1/2 Pint, moved it home
2018 - 50 taps, 9 on 3/16 gravity and 41 pails -14 gallons of good sweet stuff
2019 - 27 taps, 17 on 3/16 gravity and 10 on pails - 12-3/4 gallons of good sweet stuff (most fun I've had with this hobby)
Last edited by johnallin; 11-05-2018 at 06:34 PM. Reason: spelling
John Allin
14x18 Hemlock Timber Frame Sugar House 2009
Leader 2x6 w/Patriot Raised Flue Pan 2009
Leader Steam Hood 2014 - Clear Filter Press 2015
Leader Revolution Pan and SS Pre-Heater 2016
CDL Hobby RO & Air Tech L25 Hi Vac Pump 2019
06' Gator HPX to collect wood & sap
14' Ski-Doo Tundra for winter work in the woods
Great Family 3 grown kids+spouses and 7 grand kids who like the woods
7th Gen Born in Canada - Raised in Chardon Ohio - Maple Capital of the World..<grin>.
yup that locust is going to rock that half pint
Folks,
Looking forward to LEME. Hope to see some of you there too.
I haven't done much maple related lately except jug up the last of the syrup from this past spring. Will make some value added maple products from some dark syrup and get ready for one more sales event in mid December.
Have considered stopping this yearly maple madness. Only been making syrup for about 60 years.
Still working on restoring old iron.
Regards,
Chris
Casbohm Maple and Honey
625 roadside taps + Neighbors bring some sap too!
3x10 King, WRU, AOF and AUF
12" SIRO Filter Press.
2015 Ford F250 PSD sap hauler
One Golden named Maggie, Norwegian Forest Cat named Lucy
Too many Cub Cadets
Ford Jubilee and several Allis WD's, and IH tractors
1932 Ford AAB ton and a half, dump truck
www.mapleandhoney.com
Chris, 60 years that's it? You have a couple more decades in you. You could always scale back like what I'm doing.
1000 taps on vac down to 100+ buckets 99% sugars
2x5 SL Hi-Output Raised Flue Corsair evaporator
SL Short bank press with CDL diaphragm pump
Leader Micro 1 RO for 2024
Constantly changing
2010:36 gal 2011:126 gal 2012:81 gal 2013:248 gal 2014: 329.5 gal 2015:305 gal 2016:316 gal 2017:258 gal 2018:147 gal 2019:91 gal 2020:30 gal 2021:30 gal 2023:50 gal Total since 2010: 2047.5 gal
Tapping the same trees my great, great and great grandfathers tapped.
In Eastern hardwoods there are only 3 that rate higher than black locust (26.8 million BTU/cord), they are Osage Orange 32.9, Shagbark Hickory 27.7 and Eastern hornbeam 27.1. Then 3 others tie with black locust at 26.8
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.