Has Anyone in the Northeast Tapped Yet?

[mapleman3]

Well I here ya on the ice thing. I boiled today on my draft induced half pint and had alot more ice in my storage than I want to talk about :?
I only boiled for 3-4 hours ...but hey ..still got 2 quarts made of some **** sweet light amber... hopefully I will hit the 15 - 20 gal mark this year
Jim

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/mapleman3

[Salmoneye In VT]

This is my third year of my '5-year plan'...First two years were spent scrounging, thinning the small section of my bush, and building this years shack (don't tell the Wife that it is not her greenhouse!)...I bought an old Grimm 2x6 Arch (from an ad on this site) a couple months ago. Got a good deal...Lots of toys came with it such as 100 buckets/taps/lids, scoop, skimmer, syrup hydrometer, etc...The front pan is stainless but the sap pan is the original tin and in bad shape...I have it sufficienlt patched for this season, but after that it will be scrapped...Already pricing a new 2x3 stainless flue pan for this arch, and a 2x4 flue pan for a second arch I have...For next season, I will be in a differnt building here...Old garage with a concrete floor...Will retrofit it with the 2x6, and then the 2x4 set 6 inches higher so it will feed the 2x6...This will effectively give me 2x7 area of flue pan and 2x3 of syrup pan...Evaporative capacity should be in the 60-75 GPH range with forced air on the second arch and a preheater on the first...I already have an old stainless parts washer pan that will be fitted with gas grill jets to be used as a finishing pan...This is all so I can run 500+ taps next year and start selling to the public here...The fifth year of the plan will see a brand new evaporator in the 4x10 range...I should be able to run 1000 taps easily with that size...I plan on paying for the new rig with proceeds from next years syrup and by selling the 2 small evaporators as they will be all stainless and in very good shape...

I am planning for 50 gallons finished this season, 125 gallons next year, and want to top out at a sustaining 250 gallons by year 5 of 'the plan'...So far 3 years in, I have less than $1000 in the whole shooting match including equipment and the shack...I plan on a total out of pocket by the end of less than $2500...This is the only way I could justify the project as we are on a severe budget...We own everything outright (house, land, cars, etc.) and I have been home with our Daughter for 5 years now...The Wife insisted she remain working 4 days a week, so we are not going backward...But we are not saving anything either...

I just do not see myself ever getting back into the work-a-day world...Trees make so much more sense than most people LOL

If you ACTUALLY read this far...Thanks...

[mapleman3]

Well I envy you... I would love to be a stay at home dad.... oh the things that I could do... my sugaring would triple and my woodworking could become a small side business!!!

ok enough dreaming for now !!

Sounds like you have a great plan going
Jim

[backyardsugarer]

The heck with it, my taps went out last night (100) and I will boil this weekend. Even if I only make a pint, syrup will be made this weekend.

[mapleman3]

backyarder .... thats the way I looked at it... I took yesterday off and was determined to boil... I have been waiting too long... good weather coming here tomorrow and sun. I'm sure I will have visitors, just hope I have enough to boil tomorrow early !! but it was nice to be back in the shack smelling the fragrence of maple again !!
Jim

[mwarren]

Sounds like a great plan. I would also like to increase my number of taps. The 30X8 that I have is capable of much more sap than I will be able to feed it. I was going to buy a 2x6 but was afraid that I would soon find more taps and end up out growing it only to buy another larger one. (This whole maple thing is addictive...)

The land that I am tapping on is only good for 250-300 taps. I am hoping that I can find some place (not too far) that I can tap some more trees for next year, then I can haul it in my pickup truck back to the sugarhouse. I tried to find someone that would sell some sap this year but I have had no luck so far.

I have invested a fair amount this year so If I don't make back a little money I may be sleeping in the sugarhouse... I would like to make 60 gals this year. Maybe 100 next year.

How many tappable trees do you have where you are? It sounds like at least 1000. What town are you in? Must be near shelburne/charlotte?

Mike

[Salmoneye In VT]

Ayuh...Lived in Charlotte all my life...

I only have enough trees here for appx. 300 taps, but I already have permission for about 200 more along the roads in and around the village...My Mother owns a mixed stand on the other side of town, where I will eventually start running about 500 more...

My 'bush' here is split into two sections...They were all laid out in measured rows about 50 years ago, and should have been thinned 20 years ago...I am just getting to it now, so the number of taps should eventually rise to maybe 400 here when the trees crown more and fill out at the base...They are just too close together for now...

When I was in highschool, we ran 1300 buckets at a place over on Moms side of town...The Woman that owns it called me in late January and asked if I wanted to run her bush...Has not been tapped since the ice-storm...1300 buckets would just be too much for me alone at this point...Not to mention I want to work for me...I tried two different people I thought might want to run that operation, but they were otherwise occupied...I bet she will be calling me again next January...A really nice bush...Just too darn flat, and way too far to power for a vacuum...

[Tomten]

Man o man...am I jealous. I only have 50 taps, a log hut, stainless steel pan on a fire brick and metal wood fire stove, but I am dying for a run. To cold here in Wisconsin. Hoping to break 10 gallons of syrup and 20 gallons of Maple Beer this year....Hearing about your operations at least makes the wait bearable. Thanks fellas.

[mwarren]

Last year I made 10 Gallons and Three pints on a half pint (from leader Evaporator). It was then that I was bit by the bug. Ever since then I have been in hundreds of near fatal accidents looking at roadside maples and sugar houses. (i'm sure I am not the only one.)

Mike

[mapleman3]

warren..so you have a half pint... barrel arch or the new designed square arch? how much were you boiling a day? How many taps did you have out.... I'm very curious this is my first year with my half pint.
Jim

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/mapleman3