My plan 2022/23

[Pdiamond]

I am pretty lucky in that respect. I picked up a SS tank 200 gallon, a little more if I squeeze, on a trailer with hard rubber tires. I can go anywhere, and they don't go flat or get squishy. I only paid $125.00 for that at an auction. It has been a big help. Now that I have the 400gallon milk tank, I think I should be all set for storage.

[Swingpure]

I am pretty lucky in that respect. I picked up a SS tank 200 gallon, a little more if I squeeze, on a trailer with hard rubber tires. I can go anywhere, and they don't go flat or get squishy. I only paid $125.00 for that at an auction. It has been a big help. Now that I have the 400gallon milk tank, I think I should be all set for storage.

That was a good find and a great price on the 200 gallon SS tank.

I will be having 150 taps on line, but I also will have a few taps with buckets right near my house for any grandkids or friends who visit, to check. I am not sure how many I will have yet. I did not get a lot of sap from them last year. I might tap them early so they could me an indicator for when the sap is starting to run. I will not really need the sap from them. I might also to use them to experiment with different diameter trees.

[Swingpure]

I walked around today to look at what I could put on pails, mostly to have something for Grandkids or friends to check while they are up.

It is somehow in my nature, to keep adding them. There are 6 that are very close and very easy to check. There are another 5 taps that I could run on a short line to another pail that is close by and easy to get to.

Then there are 4 more that are a short walk away. Then there are 7 more that I could put on a short line that would feed into a 16 gallon barrel, that would be close to the 4.

As mentioned on an earlier post, I would likely tap these a few days ahead of the real lines, to help determine when the sap starts to run. I also mentioned the pail taps under performed last year, but it was apparently a slow year, but I do not expect a lot of sap volumes whether it be 6 taps or 22 taps.

[DRoseum]

Gary - this is all normal, at least for all of us on this forum! None of us can resist tapping a viable maple. What's 22 more??

[Pdiamond]

Are your trees all sugar maples and are you hanging actual buckets on the tree or using pails on the ground being fed by a spile connected to tubing.

[Swingpure]

Are your trees all sugar maples and are you hanging actual buckets on the tree or using pails on the ground being fed by a spile connected to tubing.

All of my trees are Sugar Maples. I will be using pails on the ground fed by a spile with tubing. The exception being is I will connect a few trees with tubing. I will have 7 taps on tubing going into a 16 gallon barrel. 2 sets of 5 taps on tubing going into a 5 gallon pails, unless I can get a couple more 16 gallon barrels and clean them and have them feed into them. And five simple pails with drops.

Dan “enabled” me, so I am going to run down to CDL tomorrow and pick up some more tubing. I also want to buy some defoamer and a new 11/64 drill bit as a spare. The weather the next few days will be above freezing, so a good time to run the three new lines. I guess I have to add the 17 on lines to my lines count and just show five on pails.

I have now research how to use defoamer on a divided pan. It was simple to do with steam pans.

[Swingpure]

Tonight was the first time I ever saw a commercial on TV for maple syrup. It was quite comical and directed you to this site.

https://maplefromcanada.ca/
And this Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/PureMaplefromCanada/

I could not find the commercial which I saw on You Tube, which would have made this post more relevant, but did come across this historical moment on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/tdikUhN4gSo

[Swingpure]

With the search function, I quickly found my answers about defoamer use on a divided pan. My pan will be two feet wide, so two drops where the sap enters the pan, each time I fire up. I may eventually experiment and try to add a little less, as that would be a lot more than I ever used with my five steam pans.

http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...er+divided+pan

I do have a cinder block evaporator and I do get a decent boil, and we will see in the spring how decent it is, with the new design and base stack on the new divided pan, but it will never be as hot as a professional evaporator, where the stove pipe glows red.

Last year I used defoamer that I bought from CDL and I am planning on buying it again tomorrow.

The cooking oil that we use at our place is avacado oil, I wonder how that would work?

[DrTimPerkins]

The cooking oil that we use at our place is avacado oil, I wonder how that would work?

Natural oils tend to not work as well as synthetic defoamers, resulting in higher amounts being added to accomplish the same amount of foam reduction. This can cause an oily sheen on top of syrup, as well as off-flavor and odd mouth-feel.

Never heard of anyone trying avocado oil...typically you want to use an oil that has no inherent flavor (neutral), which is why safflower oil is commonly used as a defoamer.

All defoamers (natural and synthetic) will go rancid, so should be stored cold in a well-sealed container (to prevent oxidation) during the off-season and checked for odor and taste prior to use.

[Swingpure]

Natural oils tend to not work as well as synthetic defoamers, resulting in higher amounts being added to accomplish the same amount of foam reduction. This can cause an oily sheen on top of syrup, as well as off-flavor and odd mouth-feel.

Never heard of anyone trying avocado oil...typically you want to use an oil that has no inherent flavor (neutral), which is why safflower oil is commonly used as a defoamer.

All defoamers (natural and synthetic) will go rancid, so should be stored cold in a well-sealed container (to prevent oxidation) during the off-season and checked for odor and taste prior to use.

Thank you.

I did buy a synthetic defoamer today.

I threw out last year’s bottle a couple months ago after reading that they can go rancid. Thank you for the advice.

The gentleman who helped me at CDL, who knows my smaller cinderblock setup, suggested I start with one drop of defoamer each fire and adjust after that.

I did buy more line but they were out of the blue 500’ rolls, so I bought a green coloured 500’ roll. Most of that will go in an area with no other blue lines nearby and is out of sight of any neighbour’s that are up.

I also bought two dozen 500 ml Kent bottles and four dozen caps, as I had some bottles from last year returned to me. Most of my syrup will go into mason jars and I will be buying a bunch of them in the next couple of days. Potentially I might need to bottle about 170 L of syrup this year.

I will run my new lines tomorrow, I am watching the World Cup this afternoon.