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Spent the weekend digging out woodpiles, tanks and mainlines. Also put
out about 45 buckets on Saturday. It was about 30 degrees and really windy, but the sun was out. Some taps actually
were dripping. Got all the plumbing figured out for transferring sap from my new bulk tank to my head tank.
Looks like Tuesday will be the start of the season here.
90 taps on vacuum
155 taps on 5/16 gravity
105 taps on 3/16 gravity
about 45 buckets
neighbor bringing from 45 taps
http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Sugarshack/
I think that I finally have my vacuum pump where I am comfortable with it. At least until I know more about vacuum. Everything in the woods is cleaned up, thawed out and as ready as I know how to get. I just need to do a soap wash on the RO, wash the head tank and sweeten the pans.
It's quarter till Go Time
Matt,
Minehart Gap Maple
Tonight was the first gathering of the season! We got 120 gallons of 2.5 percent. I have a cage tank with about 110 taps running into it.
This morning it had about 4 inches of ice and just a little sap that run in yesterday. Tomorrow I'll pump it in the morning and start
our first boil. Got the vacuum up and running at the house; only getting about 18" of vacuum. I'll have to go on a leak finding
expedition after I boil. Not sure but this might be the latest I've ever started! We will see how it goes this year. I'm thinking
the next two weeks are gonna be great. After that; who knows.
90 taps on vacuum
155 taps on 5/16 gravity
105 taps on 3/16 gravity
about 45 buckets
neighbor bringing from 45 taps
http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Sugarshack/
Good run yesterday. Collected about 30 gallons of maple and walnut sap combined. Running into cold storage issues with the warmer days. I have 5 gallon water jugs of sap packed in what's left of the snow and RO'ed some yesterday to free-up space in the tank; put the concentrate in fridge in buckets.
2020 - 1st year - 13 black walnut taps - turkey fryer burner/boiler
2021 - 50 taps, 21 black walnuts/26 reds - homemade file cabinet arch w/2 steam pans
I have dozens of black walnuts around be and never thought about tapping any of them. I'm tempted to tap a couple of the big ones and see what the brix level is on them and if decent, what it tastes like finished. I've never tasted it, or even seen it for that matter.
Hudson Valley, NY
Backyard hobby syrup maker on about 12 trees
you won't get as much sap from the walnuts as the maples, so for alot of people, the extra labor doesn't justify the decreased production. I don't have many trees, so it's not that much more trouble to collect from the walnuts at the same time as the maples. Plus, we like the extra flavor the walnut adds to the maple syrup. The walnut sap collected yesterday was only 1.8%. But the earlier run beginning of Feb, it was 2.2%.
2020 - 1st year - 13 black walnut taps - turkey fryer burner/boiler
2021 - 50 taps, 21 black walnuts/26 reds - homemade file cabinet arch w/2 steam pans
i've tapped a couple big walnuts in the past and they ran really well. do it. haha
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