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Thread: 2020 Missouri activity

  1. #51
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    hills west of Jeff City Missouri
    Posts
    134

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    Processed the leftover 85 gallons from previous harvest, along with new collection on 2/16 and 2/18, and made 6 gallons of beautiful dark gold syrup, almost crimson in color. I removed all taps from our trees, as we are out of firewood, the mud is worse than ever, and 28 gallons this season is enough! Good luck to all. John
    2020: 220 trees, most smaller than 20" diameter, made 25 gallons
    remote location in western Cole County
    5/16" plastic spiles, drain into plastic buckets or sapsaks
    haul sap out of woods using atv & trailer
    wood-fired pans on concrete blocks
    one Leader Half Pint 24 x 33" plus 24 x 30 ss pan from a junkyard
    cook batch process then finish in the kitchen;
    we dont sell our syrup; its for family & friends
    see website www.mosyrup.com

  2. #52
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Southeast Missouri
    Posts
    29

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    I've made about 2 gallons of lovely Maple Syrup this season and about 4oz of Black Walnut Syrup. Sure beats the two pints I made my first and only other season in 2018! My technique got better as the season progressed and I actually got much better at filtering, using an Orlon filter and paper coffee filters.

    Last three and a half 8oz jars from this week-end an 4oz of Black Walnut. The BW is VERY sweet and has a very unique flavor from tastes. Look forward to trying it on pancakes or waffels; unlike the Birch Syrup I made in 2018 which is NOT table syrup!
    IMG_20200302_200104.jpg

    As of today, I'm tapped out, er, uh, well, that is, my taps are out. The first set were starting to come up dry as well as some of the second sets of that were the Sap Sacks. First set was plastic taps, short tubing and gallon jugs; second set was the Sap Sacks. I was also starting to get spots of mold growing in the bottom of my jugs and seeing a little fuzzy mold on the ends of some of the tubes. The sap sacks were collecting moths and flies. With the weather in Southeast Missouri warming up, figured it was time.

    Processed my last several gallons today and added in a couple of quarts of Black Walnut Sap, just because I had it and had already processed my 2-gallons of BW over the weekend.

    I'm getting my new barrel stove dialed in and have some good suggestions from elsewhere in the forum for getting it to burn hotter.

    Here's to hoping a two-week vacation in January does not interfere TOO much with next syrup season!

    Cheers all and best of luck sugaring for those that still have taps in.

    John
    Last edited by JayTee; 03-02-2020 at 09:41 PM. Reason: Added picture

  3. #53
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Southeast missouri
    Posts
    15

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    we also pulled taps, we tried walnut this year didnt get enough sap to mess with so far we have 4 gallons of maple syrup. finishing up today. see everybody next year, hope everyone have a safe and healthy 2020.

  4. #54
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    SE Missouri
    Posts
    289

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    Finished the season with 177 gallons of syrup. Just over a quart a per tree for our 600 taps. Not bad at all considering the weather. The RO was a real lifesaver, and the mainline made collection so much faster and easier. Best purchases we ever made for our syrup production. Now time to gear up for farmer’s markets.
    Last edited by Goggleeye; 03-04-2020 at 12:02 AM.
    Now I have an outdoor hobby for all 12 months. Like I need anything more to do
    About 1000 taps on gravity tubing, MicRO2 RO, 2.5 X 8 Leader King, and a 1953 Willys Jeep to run around the maple woods with.
    http://www.gihringfamilyfarm.com/

  5. #55
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Southeast Missouri
    Posts
    29

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by unclejohn View Post
    The fever is starting to build here in Missouri.... Got a text from someone around Jackson MO who tapped trees on 12/31 and today, NewYears day, and his trees are running. Looks like Missouri will have the first harvest of 2020 in the US. Everyone, try to keep in touch here on mapletrader's Missouri posting site. I'm watching the forecast and getting my concrete blocks put together for the arch. Our 4-wheeler will come out of the shop tomorrow, and depending on weather forecasts, I may be hauling sap by this time next week. And if you know a beginner who has a lot of questions, tell em to go to the website of the Missouri Maple Syrup Initiative, www.mosyrup.com . Thanks. UncleJohn
    Also near Jackson, MO. Tapped one smallish tree yesterday morning and had sap running. Tapped another 20 or so yesterday afternoon. Got five gallons this afternoon. Have a total of 35 trees tapped. Started boiling down this afternoon. Will probably continue tomorrow.

    John

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    hills west of Jeff City Missouri
    Posts
    134

    Default

    Collected 175 gal sap on Wed 1/13 while weather was beautiful; sapsacks were huge bloated with sap. First try with my new evaporator arch made from an old oval oil tank. Much more efficient than setting the pan on concrete blocks. Finished the batch today, bottled 3.5 gallons (should have bottled 4 gallons but had an overboil on the stove, and we slightly overcooked it, I calculate that cost us a quart. So the ratio was 43.75:1 Beautiful gold color, had lots of sand so we used countless conical pelon filters inside the wool cone. FYI, Vieth Valley Farms near Marthasville MO (north side of MO river east of Hermann) is having an open house tomorrow 10-2. They make and sell syrup, have over 100 taps on tubing, sugar shack, and I think they have RO. They're on the internet if you want to get directions. John
    2020: 220 trees, most smaller than 20" diameter, made 25 gallons
    remote location in western Cole County
    5/16" plastic spiles, drain into plastic buckets or sapsaks
    haul sap out of woods using atv & trailer
    wood-fired pans on concrete blocks
    one Leader Half Pint 24 x 33" plus 24 x 30 ss pan from a junkyard
    cook batch process then finish in the kitchen;
    we dont sell our syrup; its for family & friends
    see website www.mosyrup.com

  7. #57
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Jackson, mo
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Put in 472 taps last weekend in Ste Genevieve County. Expanded our shack this year also so lots more room. Made some improvements to our collection system and got the RO put back together, so we’re gonna start cooking tomorrow 👍. Checked buckets yesterday, looked good. Good luck this year to all you Missouri tappers!

  8. #58
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Jackson, mo
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Only collected 371 gallons last weekend on 472 taps so pretty sorry run! Not looking real good this week either😕. How’s everyone else doing?

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    SE Missouri
    Posts
    289

    Default

    How about we all go back to the 2021 thread so the info gets archived on the correct year?!
    Now I have an outdoor hobby for all 12 months. Like I need anything more to do
    About 1000 taps on gravity tubing, MicRO2 RO, 2.5 X 8 Leader King, and a 1953 Willys Jeep to run around the maple woods with.
    http://www.gihringfamilyfarm.com/

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