OT Maple Taps

[BoneHead]

I say "What did you do, pizz your pants?" He said "Yeah" Cant make this stuff up.

He looks "twisted". 

[guppy1980]

It has been eunning good up my way from what i hear

[brace]

I picked up 60 gallons of sap last weekend in Abbot Village.  I doubt it's been running up there the last 2 days, but looks like the remainder of the week should be good.  I'll check in on Monday with some pics.

[rude the dude]

Awesome run today. 8)

[gamefisher]

Awesome run today. 8)

Was thinking the same thing Rude.  Hope to have my "new" evaporator ready for the weekend.  Going to limp by tonight with my current setup. 

[rude the dude]

Good luck. Your buckets should be full today. 8)

[gamefisher]

Was busy this week making a new "high tech" evaporator as I wasn't happy with the speed of my other setup.  Robbed some parts to put in a barrel, quite a bit better yesterday.  Boiled 24 gal. in about 7 hours using mostly half wet pine.  I think it can do 4-5 gph with good wood.  Season might be over in a hurry unless we start getting some freezing night time temps.  Atleast I'll have it for next year.  To date:  71 gal. of sap off of 12 taps and a little over 1.75 gal. of syrup made and probably a 30 pack during the process.

[johndeere540]

Was wondering what you are using for a pan on top?

[gamefisher]

Was wondering what you are using for a pan on top?

It's just a big s.s. lasgana pan, 18" X 24"  or something like that, $25 on ebay.  A couple full steam tray pans would work just as good if not better. 

[rude the dude]

Nice set up, and if its over, like you said , your ready for next year.  I've been having alot of french toast, and pancakes, gotta love it.  Let me know if you want some dry pine to burn. I have lots of slabs off my mill laying around, be happy to share.  8)

[Bailbuster]

birch trees can also be tapped, but i think they take about 50 gal. or more of sap to make a gallon of syrup.
it's supposed to be very good.

That sure wouldn't be Maple syrup,only thing birch is good for is wood in the arch.BB

[Bailbuster]

First off, I just want to thank SLT for starting this topic and everyone who has responded.  It got my remembering some great times from 25-30 years ago and consequently, got me excited about doing this again with my own kids.  We now have 8 taps in and my kids are loving the experience (and so am I )

One question I wanted to ask is about boiling it off because I can't remember what we did.  Not running real well right now but generally, how often should I boil?  Do you "small timers" wait till you have atleast 10 gallons of sap or something or just boil off what you get daily and keep adding finished product to your syrup jar?  Was actually thinking I should have enough sap to make atleast a quart of syrup before starting the process. Would love to hear from some of the experts on this.  Thanks guys.

Older the sap the more bacteria it has which make poorer syrup.BB

[johndeere540]

It's just a big s.s. lasgana pan, 18" X 24"  or something like that, $25 on ebay.  A couple full steam tray pans would work just as good if not better. 

We've got a similar set-up but use a turkey roasting pan. Work great and makes great syrup but about 10 taps is about all we can handle.  Can only boil about 2.5 gph of sap. Made about a gallon of fancy so far.

[brace]

Greetings All,

OK, I'm trying this for the 3rd or 4th time - Now that GameFisher has educated me on posting pics it will work better.   We picked up another 45 gallons this weekend, but my parents had been up last week, so I wasn't expecting much.  I am noticing the color has changed from last week, but I would guess I've got another 1 or 2 weeks in Abbot. 

As you can see, the snow is still plenty deep



Collecting sap.



Pretty basic evaporator



Straining the sap



The Final product




The dogs weren't impressed at all.


I hope everybody is having as much fun at this as I am. 

[gamefisher]

Now that GameFisher has educated me on posting pics it will work better.  

Are you paying attention to this billditrite? 

Brace - good stuff.  I made a couple of pints on propane this year, a lot lighter than the wood but the propane cost is a killer and the wood made stuff tastes a little better to me because of all the extra ingrediants that float around.

[hack]

My bro and I were using softwood/hardwood mix to start but noticed a pine taste so switched to all hardwood and taste was great. We have an old cook stove with 3 pans. First one preheats, second to boil down and third to finish. Made over 6 gals but I think we may be done as did not run over the weekend. Got brook fishing to do Weds so thats ok with me. 

[gamefisher]

Well, after missing the first run two weeks ago, we finally got our 16 taps in yesterday in the rain, snow, and sleet.   Well behind toguefisha, RTD, and brace but really don't expect much of a run until later in the week.  I can't remember the last night it got below freezing here, its been 2-3 weeks!

Was going to set up the evap. today but may wait given what they are talking for winds tonight as we have to boil outside.

Any other members of Team Maine sap-a-holics as well

[rude the dude]

Weather looks good for this week. Dumped all my buckets yesterday, they been overflowing for three days, but the sap hasn't run all week. 8)

[ICEMAN-73]

Taped 12 trees yesterday, I drilled the holes my 8yr old son tapped in the spiles and my 6yr old daughter hung the buckets. In years past I used turkey boilers to boil the sap, it worked well but I felt it cost to much. This year I made a custom wood stove and stainless steel evaporator pan with a preheater tank  I'll try to take some pic's my new set up after I get it set up today.

[gamefisher]

Taped 12 trees yesterday, I drilled the holes my 8yr old son tapped in the spiles and my 6yr old daughter hung the buckets. In years past I used turkey boilers to boil the sap, it worked well but I felt it cost to much. This year I made a custom wood stove and stainless steel evaporator pan with a preheater tank  I'll try to take some pic's my new set up after I get it set up today.

Please do IceMan, I agree, propane is just too expensive.

[GRGS]

Does anyone know if you can tap trees on public reserve land?

[dvn4flags]

The ice shanty of maple sugaring
http://mapletrader.com/community/

[allextremesfishing]

yeah i put mine out last weekend of feburary. shoulda been out earlier but i was fishing:)

[brace]

The ice shanty of maple sugaring
http://mapletrader.com/community/

That is a great site - Gamefisher put me onto it earlier this year.  

[Woods Wise]

Brace, how much sap did it take to make that tin of Skoal on the table next to the syrup?

[brace]

Brace, how much sap did it take to make that tin of Skoal on the table next to the syrup?

The real question is how much of that skoal (and rum) did I go through while making the syrup...

[toguefisha]

boil, boil, toil and trouble....

I'm making up a batch right now, sap ran good today.

[Litchfield Fisher]

The ice shanty of maple sugaring

http://mapletrader.com/community/

[dvn4flags]

You have to love March in Maine.  Hang out at the ice shack all day fishing and out to the sugar shack at night for some sugaring. Had to put a no vodka rule in place this year after finding that half finished syrup and absolut make a good mixed drink .   <- somehow lost the wifes all clad pan that night, still don't know what happened to it.

[gamefisher]

boil, boil, toil and trouble....

I'm making up a batch right now, sap ran good today.

You guys that are running are killing me!  I haven't run a drop here since Sat., no freezing nights, 36 last night.  At this rate, or lack thereof , I'll be sneaking off Downeast to fish instead of boiling!