Casbohm Maple and Honey 2020 and beyond......

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Helped a friend tap a neighbors sugarbush this afternoon. I tried the drill bit he was using and it did a way better job than the bit I was using yesterday. Faster cleaner hole. I drilled them and Scott tapped them into the trees, we did about 400 taps in 2-1/2 hours. Not a worlds record but we moved along and visited in Keith's sugarbush. Here is Keith. He will be 90 this August and claims its his last season for making maple syrup.


The Great grandsons tapped their sugrbush behind the shop today too. About 12 buckets.




Should have enough sap to boil tomorrow evening. Maybe a couple hundred gallons, enough to sweeten the pans.

Regards,
Chris

[minehart gap]

Chris, what brand if tapping bit was it that you were impressed with?

[Bill]

Chris
We are about finished tapping today, We still need to tap for about 100 buckets, However the snow is still to deep so will wait till Saturday.

Fort Leboeuf Maple
Waterford, PA

[Sugarmaker]

Chris, what brand if tapping bit was it that you were impressed with?

Matt,
I will have to find out. Scott may have got it at Johnsons (H2) dealer in Wattsburgh?

it was a CDL high resistant titanium bit sku# 662517 (Thanks to Scott R for the info)
This bit wanted to suck right into the tree. I had trouble not going too deep.

Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Chris
We are about finished tapping today, We still need to tap for about 100 buckets, However the snow is still to deep so will wait till Saturday.

Fort Leboeuf Maple
Waterford, PA

Bill,
Good to here your into it! Gathered 500 gallons of 2% sap. We made 4 gallon of Amber last night. Had start up issue with temp probe. Moral of the story. look at the bubbles, check for syrup with a scoop. they dont lie! Mechanical/ electrical things can have issues!






Regards,
Chris

[DrTimPerkins]

Mechanical/ electrical things can have issues!

All the things involved in maple can be summed up easily by the following equation:

Electrical x water/sap x mechanical x ice = TROUBLE

Now add to that the issue of trying to get good scientific data and the TROUBLE is squared. But it does make life interesting trying to solve problems.

[minehart gap]

All the things involved in maple can be summed up easily by the following equation:

Electrical x water/sap x mechanical x ice = TROUBLE

Now add to that the issue of trying to get good scientific data and the TROUBLE is squared. But it does make life interesting trying to solve problems.

Then the sap goes to the sugar shack and you are 7 seconds away from a disaster.

Thanks for the tapping bit info Chris. I've been looking for a better tapping bit.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Boiled 450 gallons of sap this morning. Still boiling raw sap 2% ish. Made 8 gallon of nice Amber Rich today. Will be another 300 gallons out there to gather today.
I agree with Dr Tim and Matt!
Regards,
Chris

[Bill]

Chris

Lucky you we collected 510 gallons of sap Sunday and made 5 quarts of syrup. Best thing is our evaporator is sweet now.

Fort LeBoeuf Maple
Waterford, PA

[Sugarmaker]

Bill your off to a good start!

The neighbors brought there sap for 25 buckets Also brought there kids and we all had hot dogs cooked in front of the fire! Awesome!






They helped with wood for loading the firebox too!



Regards,
Chris