Maple sugaring

[dinorocks 2107]

It also depends on the side of the tree you tap...many of my south facing taps are (were) running and the north facing taps weren’t (they will run later)...the sun warms the south side of the trees before the north side warms up.  I boiled yesterday and despite the afternoon below zero temps, I had drips coming from some of my south facing taps (while the sun was out).

[dinorocks 2107]

On 2/28/2021 at 3:56 PM, left field said:

So many questions.

How is the ice cut? Chainsaw?

Do you hammer that handle in? I never would have thought of that.

Will the top and sides of the ice house be covered to keep the ice from melting?

I cut the ice blocks with an ax...well I tried at first just to see what I was up against...with 8 plus inches of ice, I brought the chainsaw out. 
After I figured out how much ice I needed, I shoveled and gridded the area out and then screwed wood handles I fabricated into the ice with long screws...if I tried using nails the ice would shatter.  I worked from down stream to upstream so if I fell in pulling ice I would have a chance to get out before going under the ice...I also took other precautions like standing on a long board to spread out my weight, rope, wore wool, and had a nice fire going.  The ice was surprisingly heavy but I was able to “pop” it out by pushing the ice into the water and heaving it out when it floated up.  I have a light blue tarp that I used to cover the top of the drum storage...and built it in the shadow of a very steep bank (north side).  Somehow I managed a day two and cut more ice and built mini igloos around 20 of my 5-gallon buckets...with the buckets on the before mentioned steep hill being the most challenging (and back-breaking)!  

 

[Culvercreek hunt club 9749]

48 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Just checked the tap I have In the split trunk and it’s dripping. Just took longer than the main trunk taps. 
 

was the wood light or dark colored in this holes when you tapped them? I’ve read that dark indicates a spot that may not work. 

It was good white wood. Maybe it'll cut loose

[Culvercreek hunt club 9749]

29 minutes ago, dinorocks said:

It also depends on the side of the tree you tap...many of my south facing taps are (were) running and the north facing taps weren’t (they will run later)...the sun warms the south side of the trees before the north side warms up.  I boiled yesterday and despite the afternoon below zero temps, I had drips coming from some of my south facing taps (while the sun was out).

The ones I put in I tapped them all on the south facing side. I'm only looking to grab about 100 gallons of sap so fingers crossed. 

[dinorocks 2107]

Not as fancy, efficient, and good looking as Mowin’s setup but I got her done.  I collected a messily 160 gallons of sap and boiled it down yesterday.  I did “cheat” and use my new RO bucket (RB-10)...the day before my boil I sent my 160 gallons of 2% sap through the RO and ended up with 80 gallons of 4+% sap...at an average rate of 10 gallons of sap per 40 minutes.  using the rule of 86, I would have needed to boil 43 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup...with the RO, I only needed about 20 gallons.  At an evaporation rate of 10 gph, I saved a ton of boiling time!  And with the new revisions to my arch, I used less than a 1/4 cord of wood (over 8 hours).  I’m very pleased !  Looking forward to next weeks warm weather!  I have just under 500 gallons of sap capacity between my two ice-insulated storage areas.  Good luck to all the sugarmakers out there!!

[dinorocks 2107]

Liquid gold!

[Culvercreek hunt club 9749]

1 hour ago, dinorocks said:

Liquid gold!

the syrup or the Ball jars? lol. Ball jars are about like ammo right now

[BowmanMike 2658]

A friend gave me 8 buckets,so i am getting in on the fun. I always wanted to do syrup but never got around to it,so i am glad he gave me a nudge. I will tap today so i am ready for next weeks warmer temps.

[WNYBuckHunter 11245]

12 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

the syrup or the Ball jars? lol. Ball jars are about like ammo right now

Country max on W Henrietta rd has them. Not Ball brand though. 

[WNYBuckHunter 11245]

Not a lot of sap today, about a gallon, but the good news is all 8 taps are now dripping!

temps next week look great, I may even be doing my first boil of the year. 

[dinorocks 2107]

Going to be a big run of sap this week!  Took a couple days off this week for collecting/preparing/boiling!  Also added some ice to my storage areas now that my rink will be melting.

[hueyjazz 142]

Cartwrights Maple Tree Inn is only a couple miles from my cabin in Angelica.  For those of you familiar with this institution they only open twice a year when the sap is running.  I a normal weekend this time of year there's hundreds waiting to come in.  This year it's takeout only.  When I drove passed the other day there was less than 20 cars in parking lot.

Everybody sugars down and around there.  Generally small batch operation but I do know of one maple syrup factory there but I forget the name.  It was Germanic and had a very popular restaurant nearby. Maple Syrup weekend got cancelled due to Covid.  Too bad as it is very enjoyable ride in fall.  And I bet a lot of these little operation sold a lot of syrup then

[WNYTRPR 175]

Using a chainsaw and cooking oil in leu of bar oil works great for cutting in ice/water.

[mowin 4517]

No sap at all last week or this past weekend. Which is great news because I didn't put my buddy in a difficult situation if it ran, as I was in Maine ice fishing.  Checked the lines today, and there's some damage from the high winds last week. Going first thing in the morning to do some repair work.  Sap should be flowing the next couple of days. Hopefully we'll get 600+ gal of sap in the next few days.  

[BowmanMike 2658]

I tapped six trees today,my eight buckets are ready for the flow..One or two of the taps ran a little right away,most of them didnt.

Micro micro maple sugaring,haha.

[Culvercreek hunt club 9749]

I emptied what I had accumulated on the 20 taps last night. There was about 12 gallons. They are all set and hoping for a big flow with this warm up.  Fingers crossed on the taps that didn't even drip a bit. 

[Nomad 13216]

On 3/3/2021 at 8:14 AM, Culvercreek hunt club said:

the syrup or the Ball jars? lol. Ball jars are about like ammo right now

I was at Country Max, and they had two cases out, without lids and bands and some canning salt . I asked when they’d get more in ,turns out they have canning supplies “ in the back “ but consider it seasonal merchandise and need shelves for seeds, and garden stuff now .

[Crazed98Camaro 22]

I put my 5 taps in 10 days ago, went and collected what wasn't frozen yesterday and got about 4 gallons in those 10 days. Still got about a foot of snowpack here, hopefully the thaw today and tomorrow will helps the trees to start flowing. Getting the itch to boil!

[BowmanMike 2658]

All my taps were running today. They just started today,but i expect tomorrow i will have a good amount  the buckets. I have to solder some old ducts i have into an evaporating pan and throw together a little arch to have a fire in. This is exciting stuff.

[mowin 4517]

Spent 3 hrs reparing lines. Tank had about 35 gal in it when I started, over 100 when I finished around 2:30.  Thinking its going to run all night.  Hopefully both tanks are full in the morning. 

Just watched the weather.  Didn't think it was going to be cold tonight, but looks like low 20's.  Mid 50's again tomorrow, then the next cold night is Friday night. 

Edited March 9 by mowin

[DDT 299]

On 3/8/2021 at 12:23 PM, WNYTRPR said:

Using a chainsaw and cooking oil in leu of bar oil works great for cutting in ice/water.

Also for cutting up deer.

[WNYBuckHunter 11245]

6 of my 8 taps ran well today. One tree barely ran at all. We will see where I’m at in the morning. Expecting a lot tomorrow and Thursday. I have To go grab propane so I can Boil if I have Enough this weekend. 

[dinorocks 2107]

Collected 100 gallons today and ran it through my RO bucket...came out at over 6.5%.  Thought my refractometer was off until I remembered there was ice in my buckets, hence the high sugar content in my raw sap (minus the ice).  My 50 gallons of concentrate should yield me over 3 gallons of syrup.  Took tomorrow off to boil.  With the forecasted temps, I’m counting on collecting another 100 gallons of sap by early afternoon to add to my boil.  Good luck collecting/boiling!!

[Culvercreek hunt club 9749]

I went around and emptied the 6 gallon pails last night. Ended up with 25 gallons off the 20 taps. a couple still didn't look like very much came out compared to the others. Could it be a bad spot in those trees? wood was all light and healthy looking when I drilled. 

[dinorocks 2107]

Started boiling...needed to wait a bit to start as I wanted to coordinate my noon sap collection (so I didn’t run out of sap to add to the boil).  Looking forward to an afternoon drink...with some Maple sap ice (while it lasts!).