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Thread: Casbohm Maple and Honey 2020 and beyond......

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Ashtabula County, Ohio
    Posts
    1,792

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sugarmaker View Post
    Folks,
    I had the opportunity to visit Jim (Father and Son) for their last boil of the season.
    Jim was enjoying running his rig which he calls the "Mutt" since it has several manufactures components used to make a custom one of a kind rig. I boils real well and the Amber to Dark, end of season syrup was very good!
    He plans to do some additional tuning with the burner but was running a steady 50ish gallons of raw sap per hour on the 2 x 8. Since this year was a system test for Jim just boiling raw sap he will be ready for 2021 season. More sap, fire up the R.O. and more syrup too.
    Very organized and well thought out draw off station on the right side of the rig. Unique single side draw with the ability to easily change syrup draw off position in the front pan.




    Auto draw monitors the temps, alnog with a watchfull eye from the sugarmaker:


    Density checks:


    Today we will pick up another third of the roadside tubing, Hoping granddaughter Marly is going to help.

    Customers are calling for syrup, So folks need this product while locked down at home during this pandemic.
    Regards,
    Chris
    Chris that arch at Jim's looks familiar
    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.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Northwest PA
    Posts
    684

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    Quote Originally Posted by heus View Post
    Chris that arch at Jim's looks familiar
    Jason,
    I thought you might recognize that.
    That’s the first time we used the burner cover. Quiets things down a lot but the size takes up a lot of room.
    Last edited by Father & Son; 03-27-2020 at 10:34 AM.
    12 x 16 Sugarhouse, 12 x 16 Woodshed
    2 x 8 “The Mutt” Evaporator with Marcland Drawoff
    Leader oil fired arch, Dallaire raised flue, Smoky Lake syrup pan and hoods with pre-heater
    New Leader Clear Filter Press/Air Diaphragm Pump
    5” Hand Pump Filter Press from Daryl-One of the first three! On loan to a friend.
    Deer Run 250 gal/hr RO
    A Very Understanding Wife
    "At any time during the day you're only 10 seconds from disaster!"

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

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    Quote Originally Posted by Z/MAN View Post
    Chris, losing 6 out of 7 sucks. I only have 2 and so far they have both made it. I feel mighty lucky!
    We tend to be more hands off on beekeeping! But maybe we should have fed these 4 new colonies last summer? We do not typically treat for mites either. Its not a cheap date to buy nuc's each year either, about $200 each.
    Sounds like your doing good with your bees!
    Having some black tea with Kelly's honey right now!
    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

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

    Default

    Folks,
    Back to maple today. Maple Mustard and Maple BBQ sauces made this afternoon:


    Mustard on the right coming back up to 180 F after mustard added to the syrup. Checked PH, recorded the values, coded the bottles with batch codes.


    Just a couple shots of the tubing back in the sugarhouse:




    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

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

    Default

    Folks,
    Random picture time. Some of the unsung heros in the sugarhouse that never get much attention.
    Finished syrup canner on the left. Yes its a old propane grill modified to support a stainless 10 gallon pan. Its old faithfull. The key I found to making this work well is a piece of cheese cloth over the spout. Does two things. Acts as a final filter for the syrup and also makes a straight stream of syrup int the jugs.


    The Cotton candy machine has paid for its self, even with only several events per year. We use the 32 oz plastic tubs with lids for the product.
    Raining like crazy here glad I am not out gathering sap!
    That syrup setting there was pulled from the freezer storage a couple hours prior and will be canned up today. Some of the Golden Delicate "FIRE & ICE" syrup from early this year.

    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

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

    Default

    Folks, I like the forum But there are several things that are agravating.
    1. The time out time is way too short: I have written many posts, Probably too long or I get distracted and when I go to post I loose it all due to being automatically logged out!
    2. The number of pictures per post limits folks like me that like to post a lot of them. Probably ahs something to do with size but if I want I can still post 8 pictures, just have to make two posts of 4 each!

    Sorry for the rant!
    Regards,
    Chris

    Oh yea ,Keep boiling!
    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

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

    Default

    Folks,
    So I had lost this thread, as noted in my previous post/ rant! But as usual, I will bull my way through this by typing faster and limiting my pictures to the magic 4 numbers so this will be two posts.

    Cutting fire wood for next year:

    Picked up two bundles of slabs from Amish sawmill on the PA Ohio line. At $10 per bundle I will have about $2.00 per gallon of fuel costs in the finished syrup. Two bundles seemed about right for the first try at cutting slabs at the wood shed.


    Here I have the trailer in position at the sugarhouse.


    Did some improvements to the buzz rig. Sharpened the blade, replaced the return spring for the table, added the new steel place to fill in the extension to the table. I cut by my self so the table extension is like having another helper.




    The trick is to dump the pictures in and post. then go back and put in the comments!

    Regards,
    Chris
    Last edited by Sugarmaker; 04-12-2020 at 09:34 AM.
    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

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

    Default

    The rest of the story.

    Quick rattle can red to cover the bare steel, The buzz rig is a 3 point I run off the Ford Jubilee. It is in position about 3 feet from the wood shed for the first row of slabs. I cut between 24 and 36 inches long.


    This set up worked pretty good and save handling them again as I just cut and piled them as I cut. A few more moves but the old man needs to get off the couch more anyway!


    I fugue one row, 8 x 10 x 2.5 yields about 40 gallons of syrup. Some nice wrist sized hard wood with mixed bigger pieces, should make a good fire and be nice and dry by next spring. The wood shed is open to the west, so it gets lots of wind from Ohio up here on the hill! Just need to get 4.5 more rows in place.

    Thanks for checking in on me.
    You may have noticed I have a tractor problem! Stories for another day!
    Are these bigger pictures OK with you folks? I just hate the thumb nails! Hope I am not hogging room with these larger pictures. I try to get the size down to 800 x 450 pixels.

    Regards,
    Chris
    Last edited by Sugarmaker; 04-05-2020 at 09:30 AM.
    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

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
    Posts
    11,547

    Default

    Chris, I've run into the same issue, loosing longer posts that is, I finally started to copy the whole post before trying to post it, then if it fails to post, I log back in and then post it to the proper thread. I didn't have this issue until 6-8 months ago and before I got smart enough to copy the post before trying to post it I lost several.
    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.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Albion PA
    Posts
    5,099

    Default

    Dave,
    Yes I sometimes remember to copy the post too.
    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

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