All 23 buckets out in Tamworth

[Mac_Muz]

Ok.... Well see I do batches.. i start the fire when I have as close to 40 gallons as i can guess or more. When that batch is done so there is very little fluid left in the pan, but the pan bottom is still covered in it, I draw off sugar water and hope that amounts to something less than 2 gallons, and also hope 1 gallon will be syrup when it gets to be 1 gallon in the house.

I was wondering if "to Sweeten the pan" ment adding finished syrup in some amount to create a higher sugar concentration on other wise straight sap, which may tend to raise the boiling temp, and so perhaps drive off water faster. That was a guess..

Say for example if adding a pint of syrup to 5 gallons of sap would make the sap boil at 213 instead of 212, maybe that would speed things up some.

I have my doubts that this ratio would be accurate, but somewhere or another there could be such a ratio... maybe..

[PerryW]

Ok.... Well see I do batches.. i start the fire when I have as close to 40 gallons as i can guess or more. When that batch is done so there is very little fluid left in the pan, but the pan bottom is still covered in it, I draw off sugar water and hope that amounts to something less than 2 gallons, and also hope 1 gallon will be syrup when it gets to be 1 gallon in the house.

Exactly, except don't add all your sap to the pan at once. I would put about 2 inches in the pan at the beginning and get it boiling. The add a dipper of sap every few minutes; trying to maintain about 2 inches in the pan. When you are out of sap, I would stop firing and let the fire die down (being careful not to let the sap get below 1 inch deep.) Just DON"T draw off the sugar water when the fire is still going or you will burn your pan.


I was wondering if "to Sweeten the pan" ment adding finished syrup in some amount to create a higher sugar concentration on other wise straight sap, which may tend to raise the boiling temp, and so perhaps drive off water faster. That was a guess..

Nope. For us NON-BATCH guys, Sweetening the pans is done of the first boil only. You have to boil & boil & boil & boil and FINALLY you can take sap off. From then on, there is partially concentrated sap in the pans, so the batches will come off every 30 minutes or so.

[Mac_Muz]

Perry, Since my pan is small 21 inches wide 34 3/4" long by 6 inches tall after i have drained by a spigot and valve all I can safely I risk burning me by pulling the pan off the barrel, and place it in a snow bank. I have no shack.

Then when I can I pour any fluid left into the pot that goes in the house.

At that time I have filtered everything one time.

The filter is washed then, while the finishing boil in the house is taking place, and about 218 degrees I filter again, which is a bother, but something I seem to need to do, and reboil for that last degree, and all those nasty spoon and apron testing where I need to taste the sample...

I don't clean the pan much either, unless there is a specific need, so there is dry sugar and some crud from the froth still on it.

My pan is mild carbon steel, and the syrup is for just my needs and a few gifts. I tell anyone not living here that the pan I made is not stainless steel, so it is up to them as to whether or not the product is safe.

The steel comes from NAPA auto supply for body working repairs on cars. Not and never was galvinized...

I leave the carbon from the fire right where it is... I leave a sugar coating in the pan the whole time it is in storage too, which sems to prevent rusting fairly well. The pan is left upside down in the barrel stove. The whole thing is left in a open side shed, like an Adirondack Shelter, so the whole thing is in the sun any day the sun is out and dry.

In use the barrel stove is outside nearer the wood pile, but can be moved from wood pile to wood pile since the barrel is on skis.

[KenWP]

Mac today was my best day yet. I got a whole 5 gallon pail of sap. I found another bucket and tapped one big tree out in the open today after wadeing thru snow to get to it. I gushed sap when I drilled it and the sap started in the bucket as soon as I got the tap in it. I figure it will be my best tree for a while as a lot of my trees are hid away in the cedars and spruce trees. I have to find a couple more buckets soon and will tap a couple more and will be done for the year. I haven't had this much fun since I cut down my first big tree last summer and it hung up on another one and took me two days to get in laying on the ground.

[Mac_Muz]

I am sort of duplicating myself as I answered your thread too, but yeah I drilled 2 new trees yesterday to move 2 buclets from trees not doing anything at all, and in my opinion not going to ever do anything ...

For kicks and grins i chose 2 young trees about 8 inch diameter, and both of these were dribbling while the drill was still spinning.

I have only collected once before with the ice cakes.. Like i said that was less than 10 gallons counting the ice..

I will check the buckets today, but don't believe i will gather any, but will Tuesday after noon sometime.

The way I measure how much sap I have is once it is in a 34 gallon barrel which I don't quite fill to be full, and again in a larger blue barrel of about 55 gallons.

The smaller one is a common trash barrel I bought at a Walmart, and the larger was a commercial coffee barrel I cut the top off off since I need a open top barrel.

With that bigger barrel I flip the top over upside down and it coverers pretty well. I add a bit of plywood for more shelter once sap is in it.

I still have at least crotch deep snow everywhere, more like a good 3 feet, and must pull a ice fishing sled with a sap container and any tools by hand on snow shoes.

My farthest buckets are 1/2 mile away, so to keep thing as light as i can I walk out there to collect first, and begin to come back.

I bring 2 carry buckets and go to each tree and then go to the sled to dump what ever I collect, leaving the sled on the more or less main trail.