Maple sugaring

[BowmanMike]

8 hours ago, dinorocks said:

My wife and I just finished bottling almost 5 gallons of syrup...a bit darker than my first two boils (Photo of syrup with labels is from my earlier boils for color comparison). Looking like this Sunday might be it for the season.

That is a beautiful thing!

[mowin]

On 3/18/2021 at 8:58 PM, dinorocks said:

My wife and I just finished bottling almost 5 gallons of syrup...a bit darker than my first two boils (Photo of syrup with labels is from my earlier boils for color comparison). Looking like this Sunday might be it for the season.

Looks great.  I actually prefer the dark amber over the fancy or light amber. 

[dinorocks]

Collected 140 gallons of 2% sap this afternoon.  Hopefully collect another 100 gallons tomorrow during my boil...5 gallon syrup goal for my last boil.  

[WNYBuckHunter]

Just returned from my sons hockey tournament. I had My daughter collecting while I was Gone, and she forgot to empty the buckets twice, so they were over flowing and she spilled a lot trying to fill containers, but I ended Up with about 16 gallons anyway. Tough to keep a 17 year old on track when it’s her first time staying home alone while dads out of town lol. Had another shipment of containers come in, I’m hoping to fill one more today and tomorrow morning and I’ll start my first boil tomorrow afternoon. 

[BowmanMike]

We collected about 40 gallons between yesterday and today. Almost finished boiling it now.

[Northcountryman]

My daughter and her BF are sapping this year. Went and checked out their little operation today and Brought back a couple of Jars to try—can’t wait !! 

[Lawdwaz]

5 hours ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

 Tough to keep a 17 year old on track when it’s her first time staying home alone while dads out of town lol.

Oh come on......17 years old?

When did we go for breakfast in Lima, 10 YEARS ago?

[dinorocks]

Just got in from collecting/boiling 260 gallons of sap...out since 6:00am...I’m beat!  Brought 8 gallons of nearup back to the house and put it on ice...the last of the ice rink...hoping to get about 6 gallons of syrup tomorrow when I do my finish boil.  

[WNYBuckHunter]

9 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Oh come on......17 years old?

When did we go for breakfast in Lima, 10 YEARS ago?

Yep, can you believe it? I want to say that was about 6 or 7 years ago. 
 

Evan will be 10 this year. 
 

here they are from last summer, last time I got A pic of them together. 

[mowin]

We believe someone is messing with our mainline.  Emptied the first tank around 9am yesterday.  The sap was running into the tank like a garden hose.  Buddy and his son checked around 3pm expecting to have two full tanks.  Nothing.   They found  two spots where the hose clamp was removed where two lengths of mainline join, and it pulled free from the connector.  Sap was flowing onto the ground all day. Weird thing is, the hose clamp was knowhere to be found.  It couldn't have fallen off because the wire and mainline were tapped and the only way it could be removed is if it was loosened total and spread apart.  Were figuring we lost 600+ gal of sap.

Edited March 22, 2021 by mowin

[BowmanMike]

11 minutes ago, mowin said:

We believe someone is messing with our mainline.  Emptied the first tank around 9am yesterday.  The sap was running into the tank like a garden hose.  Buddy and his son checked around 3pm expecting to have two full tanks.  Nothing.   They found  two spots where the host clamp was removed where two lengths of mainline join, and it pulled free from the connector.  Sap was flowing onto the ground all day. Weird thing is, the hose clamp was knowhere to be found.  It couldn't have fallen off because the wire and mainline were tapped and the only way it could be removed is if it was loosened total and spread apart.  Were figuring we lost 600+ gal of sap.

That stinks. Some people are real jerks. I can't even imagine why anyone would do that. There were lines there before on that property,right?

[mlammerhirt]

Wtf!...those dang squirrels strike again!

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[mowin]

32 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

That stinks. Some people are real jerks. I can't even imagine why anyone would do that. There were lines there before on that property,right?

Yes, land is owned by the Columbia County land conservancy. The same guy has been tapping for 12 yrs. He wanted out of the syrup business, and my buddy bought him out, and gained the right to tap. This is our first yr there. Its possible that someone is upset we got the Sugarbush and they didn't. Might be trying to get us to say it isn't worth staying here.  

[dinorocks]

I’m very sorry about your sap loss!  I set up my game cameras when I tap to make sure nobody is messing with my stuff or peeing in my sap buckets...No one is typically out during the wet and soggy maple season except shed hunters...everything is on my property but you never know...

maybe put up some cameras...a little late this year but maybe next year.

take care

[mowin]

23 minutes ago, dinorocks said:

I’m very sorry about your sap loss!  I set up my game cameras when I tap to make sure nobody is messing with my stuff or peeing in my sap buckets...No one is typically out during the wet and soggy maple season except shed hunters...everything is on my property but you never know...

maybe put up some cameras...a little late this year but maybe next year.

take care

He fixed the lines yesterday, and there was 3/4 of a tank this morning.  Everything was frozen tight.   Im boiling down what's in the head tank, around 300 gal.  Buddy is working today so its just me. I'll shut down once there's about 100g left and go collect the holding tanks. Both should be full. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

That sucks mowin, sorry to hear it. 

I went to get started eelarlier and found out my regulator was broken on my old fryer burner so off to Home Depot I went. Couldn’t find a regulator so I bought A new fryer. Damn thing had a 15 min timer that I had To modify to disable. Also ordered a replacement regulator for the old burner from Amazon, so when it gets here tomorrow I’ll have 2 burners running.

the boil has begun for me. Gonna be a long night. 

[mowin]

16 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

That sucks mowin, sorry to hear it. 

I went to get started eelarlier and found out my regulator was broken on my old fryer burner so off to Home Depot I went. Couldn’t find a regulator so I bought A new fryer. Damn thing had a 15 min timer that I had To modify to disable. Also ordered a replacement regulator for the old burner from Amazon, so when it gets here tomorrow I’ll have 2 burners running.

the boil has begun for me. Gonna be a long night. 

Good luck.  Lot of work, but its fun. 

[mowin]

Ended up with about 500g today.  It was just me boiling down, and a evap this size really needs two people.  So I ran the sap level really high in the pans all day. When my buddy got home, I dropped the sap level to 1.5", and within 30min, we had a 5gal draw.  

[Lawdwaz]

11 hours ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Yep, can you believe it? I want to say that was about 6 or 7 years ago. 
 

Evan will be 10 this year. 
 

here they are from last summer, last time I got A pic of them together. 

You're probably right on the years.  I think you were still living in Lima at the time?

Oh well, the kids look like they're doing great, congrats to you & your ex.

[Versatile_Hunter]

15 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

You're probably right on the years.  I think you were still living in Lima at the time?

Oh well, the kids look like they're doing great, congrats to you & your ex.

In Peru?  Wait, don’t tell me there’s a Lima, NY....

[Dinsdale]

Sorry to hate about someone messing with your lines mowin.

Some years ago I came home to a guy filling jugs out of a main tank that unfortunately sits down by the main state highway I live on due to pitch.

So I didnt pull in and drove past around the blind corner, parked at a neighbor and ran back over the ATV trail that runs to my shop.

Snuck up on him and scared the shit out of him.

[WNYBuckHunter]

2 hours ago, Versatile_Hunter said:

In Peru?  Wait, don’t tell me there’s a Lima, NY....

Sure is. My home town. Really good hunting there as well if you can get access. 

[BizCT]

In Peru?  Wait, don’t tell me there’s a Lima, NY....

Seems like half of NY couldn’t think of town names so they used cities from other countries. Rome, Naples, Verona, Lima, Mexico, Greece, Sparta, Cicero, Amsterdam, Boston, Milan, etc.


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[dinorocks]

Kept my nearup nice and cold last night with the last of the ice rink. Finished this evening with 5.4 gallons of syrup.  Knob Creek and bacon in the last 1/2 gallon...oh my!!

[WNYBuckHunter]

52 minutes ago, dinorocks said:

Kept my nearup nice and cold last night with the last of the ice rink. Finished this evening with 5.4 gallons of syrup.  Knob Creek and bacon in the last 1/2 gallon...oh my!!

Oh man, that sounds amazing! Have you done that before or is it an experiment?