Maple Syrup

[jjb4900]

sitting here watching tv and the show is talking about making maple syrup.......anybody on here make their own?

[Lawdwaz]

I know of at least one member who does, and it is spectacular.  I was gifted 6 of the smaller bottles and we are down to three left............YIKES!!

 

There is nothing better.  Yes, I can slum the imitation crap in a pinch but I sure do enjoy the real deal.

 

On a somewhat related note, I have a spot that I hunt spring gobblers in Arcade that is thick with sap lines.  What a PIA hunting around them..................................................

[Dinsdale]

300 +/- taps on gravity tubing.

 

Friend has a 30"x6' Leader wood fired, he buys my sap.

 

I have a small hobby that'll boil around 15 gal an hour or so when I want to mess around. I usually just boil early sap as I like the light grade.

 

Did 6 or 7 gallons last year.

[Dinsdale]

Lawdwaz, on 29 Jan 2014 - 7:09 PM, said:

I know of at least one member who does, and it is spectacular.  I was gifted 6 of the smaller bottles and we are down to three left............YIKES!!

 

 

I may know where there are a few more. LOL

[Lawdwaz]

I may know where there are a few more. LOL

 

BINGO!!!

[ncountry]

Fil and I have around 100 buckets we hang , we usually make 20-30 gallons . I personally use a gallon a year and will sometimes share another with the wife and kid..mmmmmm..lol

[stoneam2006]

Guy I work with makes it.....brings me some every year...good stuff

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[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

On a somewhat related note, I have a spot that I hunt spring gobblers in Arcade that is thick with sap lines.  What a PIA hunting around them..................................................

 

 

I hear you there. I hunt a property that has 3500 tapped. It eiminates a lot of area for deer hunting.

 

I make my own syrup with a good friend of mine. It is always a great time and something I look forward to every year. We have two wood fired half pint Leader evaporators set up in a lean-to next to a nice stream with waterfalls running by. Actually I just ran out of my personal syrup  .

[First-light]

Brother in law does it. Best syrup I have ever tasted. Can't wait to try it myself!

[ncountry]

I on occasion drink too much beer and eat too many eggs boiled in the sap..yumm.. Won't be long now..

[Dinsdale]

This one of my odd parts steam table pan evaporators.

Mostly made out of scrap collected here and there with some new brick and insulation blanket lining....

[Doc]

Back in our younger days we used to get into syrup making for a few years. It was a very crude rig consisting of basically a campfire and an old wash-tub. No special thermometers or hygrometers or any other equipment. Just a simple boiling down until it looked about right. The stuff was great although occasionally we would go too far and wind up with maple hard candy. But, it was a lot of fun making something so great tasting out of sap. My wife, two kids and myself all were involved, gathering sap, feeding the fire, and watching it boil down. It was almost like a science project that we did just to say we did. By the way, we always took the syrup right to the edge of going to candy, so it was a lot thicker and a bit more concentrated than the commercial syrup that you buy.

[First-light]

We use a 55 gallon drum with a cutout for a pan

For the sap to boil on. Drum is on it's side with a roaring fire

Inside. Crude but works fine.

[wdswtr]

I am a syrup producer.  Tap around 1200 trees and growing every year, I plan to be tapped out at 5000.  Boil on a 3'x12" and a 2'x6' foot evaporator.  I also am a tig welder and fabricator for a local stainless steel metal shop who specializes in maple syrup equipment.  Its a big part of my life and a good chunk of my income between making syrup and the equipment.  Produced 300 gallons last year and keep upping the numbers annually.  I am normally tapped in around first of January to catch the January thaw but weather pattern and the deep freeze has me playing the waiting game.  I expect a fast and short season. 

[wdswtr]

Heres a picture of my sugarhouse and second picture is the new 3x8 foot flue pan I built ,it also has 3 syrup pans that connect to it for a total of 12 feet. It will boil off at the least 120 gallons an hour of sap.

Edited January 31, 2014 by wdswtr

[Doc]

Heres a picture of my sugarhouse and second picture is the new 3x8 foot flue pan I built ,it also has 3 syrup pans that connect to it for a total of 12 feet. It will boil off at the least 120 gallons an hour of sap.

Darn nice looking sugarhouse.

 

What fuel do you use? What is the gathering system used? ..... tubing or manual gathering? Do you retail your product or wholesale it, or both?

[Doc]

Anybody familiar with the pancake place down in Angelica? Cartwright's? .... I think that the name of it. Those guys aren't open very long, but boy do they ever do a humongous business during the few weeks they are open..... Buses and everything. And they are way out in the middle of nowhere. Its a great place and a great way to bust up the cabin fever at the end of a long winter.

[phade]

Maple tree in.

They are only open a few weeks a year but ive heard they do over 1m in business.

[Doc]

Maple tree in.

They are only open a few weeks a year but ive heard they do over 1m in business.

That's it! Cartwright's Maple Tree Inn.   http://www.cartwrightsmapletreeinn.com/    Phenomenal place. It's a pretty long drive for me, but it is worth it just to get away for a few hours.

[wdswtr]

I just purchased a stainless steel bulk tank from them a month ago. When you say in the middle of no where thats not a joke. Great people. Doc I sell about 20%retail and bulk the restt in 30 gallon stainless steel barrels and wholesale it. I run 300 buckets to keep some traditions alive and the rest is on high vacume system. The tubing does not seem to effect deer much at all. Most areas its high enough they can walk under and some areas it creates a nice setup for deer hunting like a fence crossing would.

[HOUNDS77]

Did it for many years. Last few years, syrup was in such high demand people were stealing sap and selling it.

[Dinsdale]

 

Did it for many years. Last few years, syrup was in such high demand people were stealing sap and selling it.

They hit a local guys place here and stole all the copper pipe and misc. Police found his filter press at a local scrap place and that led them back to the theives.

[HOUNDS77]

I could not believe that it would come to that. The few that make it around here would go to gather sap only to find empty tanks.

[thphm]

The quality of last years sap was one of the best here,I have 3 jugs left.

When do you people in the western part of the state start tapping?.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I am a syrup producer.  Tap around 1200 trees and growing every year, I plan to be tapped out at 5000.  Boil on a 3'x12" and a 2'x6' foot evaporator.  I also am a tig welder and fabricator for a local stainless steel metal shop who specializes in maple syrup equipment.  Its a big part of my life and a good chunk of my income between making syrup and the equipment.  Produced 300 gallons last year and keep upping the numbers annually.  I am normally tapped in around first of January to catch the January thaw but weather pattern and the deep freeze has me playing the waiting game.  I expect a fast and short season. 

 

 

And his products are GREAT!!!