Hi, new hobby sugar bush here. Tapped 35 trees in our first season. Made about 10 qts of syrup and a batch of thick butter(stirred to long). We made a barrel evaporator and had some fun in our sugar shanty. Starting to cut the wood for a 12x16 sugar shack for next year. Had a lot of fun with my family and friends. Plan for 60 to 70 taps next year. Max will be 80 taps as we bought a CDL classic 2x4 evaporator.
I have enjoyed the info we picked up from this site.
Cheers
Bart
Welcome to the fold Bart. Sounds like you have caught the virus, i mean bug. ;-)
Boulder Trail Sugaring
150 Taps on Vacuum
Homemade 20"x40" Hybrid Pan - 15 gph
Homemade Steamaway - 10 gph
Waterguys single-post RO
Way to go Bart. When the bug bites it seems that you can't stop itching. Glad to have you onboard. Good luck in your future endeavors.
2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
made 17 gal. syrup
2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
2021 - Didn't work out
2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start
Joined here last spring to browse everything. I dont have a single maple on my property but my mom has 4 which are about 10-15 inches in diameter. My aunt recently moved to a house in an old urban neighborhood and has two enormous maples which I plan to tap. Last year I was able to get about 30 ounces of syrup. I had no idea what I was doing and two trees really didn't produce anything. I'm hoping I just missed the run. Always looking for more trees in my area. Thinking of asking neighbors.
Morning all!
I've been reading this forum for 2 years and I have gotten some great information. I made syrup for the first time in 2020: 9 taps from 3 sugars, 1 red, and 1 Norway boiled down on a cinderblock arch. I bought a freezer, scrubbed dozens of used icing buckets, and froze 135 gallons of sap. The plan was to do a couple of boils when family was in town to help my wife with the kids (at that time they were 2 years old and 2 months old). COVID hit. What was supposed to be a social activity, I did by my lonesome - it was different but I still really enjoyed it.
Last year a new job stopped me from doing any tapping but this year we are planning on tapping 18 trees at the cottage and will be trying our hand at a gravity tubing system. Also on the to-do list is an oil tank evaporator and a coffee urn filter.
Please watch for all of my up-coming questions!
Zack
just thought i'd say hi, i'm in s.e. C.T. ,been sugarin for a little while and just joined in here ,, your gonna like the drop lines 3'long and 5 gallon bucket w/cover and 3/8 hole or two in lid .they vgive yoy more time when you cant ckeck every day ,, good luck ,,,have fun
Good evening all. I’m a newbie to the MT forum. I made syrup as a kid and 45 years later, I’m at it again. I’ll be retired in 4 months so I felt that it was the right time to dive back into sugaring. This is the year that we get the bugs out. I have a Mason 2x3 and a 10x16 Amish shed turned sugar shack. My wife and I live on 5 acres with about 100 maples (mostly sugar maples). I currently have 75 taps with 40 of them on 3/16 tubing. We are located in southwestern New York. I look forward to participating in this forum.
Hello, my name is Kevin and I’m a complete novice maple syrup producer. Just recently purchased a property in eastern Ontario just north of Gananoque and discovered an old derelict Lightning evaporator built by the Small Brothers in Dunham Quebec. It measures 3 feet by 10 feet as far as I can tell. I intend to rebuild it and bring it back to life.
Sorry, some of the attached pictures automatically rotated upside down and I don’t know how to fix them.
Last edited by Kevtmiller; 12-07-2022 at 07:42 AM.
Welcome, Kevin. WOW, what a great find, and what is even better, you have a very good and it appears to be in very good shape front for the arch. The rest will be just fun. I am glad you are going to be resurrecting an old battlewagon to live on and boil another day. Are you planning on using it or are you going to fix it up and sell it so that you can get something smaller to run for yourself?
2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
made 17 gal. syrup
2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 ga.l syrup
2021 - Didn't work out
2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start
Welcome Kevin.
That will be quite the project, but rewarding when you have it completed.
The trick to taking pictures that have the correct orientation when you post them, is how you hold your phone when you take the pictures. I alway hold the phone sideways, (landscape) with the bottom of the phone on the right side.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
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