Author Topic: OT Maple Taps (Read 156104 times)

Central Slayer · « **Reply #330 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 01:03 PM »

13 1/2 gals of syrup and counting!!!!!!!

gamefisher · « **Reply #331 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 01:43 PM »

Quote from: Central Slayer on Mar 30, 2011, 01:03 PM

13 1/2 gals of syrup and counting!!!!!!!

Fantastic, going to be hard to beat this yr. for awhile. How big is your operation?

pipeboy98 · « **Reply #332 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 04:24 PM »

Quote from: Central Slayer on Mar 30, 2011, 01:03 PM

13 1/2 gals of syrup and counting!!!!!!!

wow...and i was proud as a peacock with my 2 1/2 gallons off of about 40 taps! wow that's awesome!

Central Slayer · « **Reply #333 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 04:31 PM »

103 taps homemade stove 2 pans but well over 20 gals of adult beverages!!!!!!!!!

toguefisha · « **Reply #334 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 04:54 PM »

Quote from: pipeboy98 on Mar 30, 2011, 04:24 PM

wow...and i was proud as a peacock with my 2 1/2 gallons off of about 40 taps! wow that's awesome!

I've boiled down 5 gallons out of my eight taps.

rude the dude · « **Reply #335 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 07:09 PM »

I'm up to a little over 4 gals. with 9 trees, I have about 20 taps. I think I'll go for one more batch and pull my taps this weekend. Glad to hear everyones having a good year. My wife's been coming up with some great maple syrup recipes this spring. We usually don't have enough to really think about cooking with it.

maineduckhunter · « **Reply #336 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 07:25 PM »

Collected about 10 gallons of sap today from 19 taps....had some water jugs flowing over.....sap was running awesome today!!! Now have just over 20 gallons to boil this weekend....hoping for a snow day Friday so I can get started!!!

toguefisha · « **Reply #337 on:** Mar 30, 2011, 07:42 PM »

Quote from: rude the dude on Mar 30, 2011, 07:09 PM

I think I'll go for one more batch and pull my taps this weekend.

I'm with you. I only have three big maples on my property so never envisioned getting so much sap. I quickly ate through my small wood pile. Cousin gave me about half a cord and now I'm pretty much through that too. One more boil and I'm all done.

gamefisher · « **Reply #338 on:** Mar 31, 2011, 04:54 AM »

Seems like we are all in the same boat, yesterday was incredible for my junk trees, 23 gal. from 16 taps, expect the same today. At 140 gal. of sap for the season, pretty much double my best with two day to go. Sap is still nice and clear but time to wrap this hobby up and re-claim my driveway.

I'm just glad I'm not Brace with 60 taps on a 2X3 pan with it running like this..... have fun Brian!

Woods Wise · « **Reply #339 on:** Mar 31, 2011, 12:17 PM »

Quote from: brace on Mar 30, 2011, 09:40 AM

1/2" cloud? Wow, I've never had it that bad - Normally the bottom of my jars are barely covered. Like you, the 1.5gal of syrup I've got is extremely clear also Much better then years past.

Do you fish anymore or just boil sap?

The Rusty Crab · « **Reply #340 on:** Mar 31, 2011, 02:20 PM »

my taps are not running that well but hope they do soon as I'm farther north than most of you. If not I'll be looking to buy some from a fellow shanty member of course.

rude the dude · « **Reply #341 on:** Mar 31, 2011, 09:18 PM »

heres a pic of my cooker this year. going to have to fire it up tommorow. over 50 gals the last two days for me.

Central Slayer · « **Reply #342 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 10:24 AM »

stove is running with 45 gals on it and 150 in cold storage better start to catch up before tomorrow..

gamefisher · « **Reply #343 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 01:35 PM »

I feel like Roberto Duran, No Mas, No Mas!

50 gal. in storage (out of storage) and who knows how much hanging on the trees. Got some major boiling too do this weekend if I can find the woodpile.

Sure are envious of you guys that get to boil inside right about now.

maineduckhunter · « **Reply #344 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 01:43 PM »

Quote from: gamefisher on Apr 01, 2011, 01:35 PM

I feel like Roberto Duran, No Mas, No Mas! 50 gal. in storage (out of storage) and who knows how much hanging on the trees. Got some major boiling too do this weekend if I can find the woodpile. Sure are envious of you guys that get to boil inside right about now.

I've been boiling ALL day!!!!

Epkomd · « **Reply #345 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 02:23 PM »

i've gotta get boiling this weekend too.

most if not all of my buckets were overflowing yesterday, and the same thing already today.

this is the last weekend for me. pulling em tomorrow night.

maineduckhunter · « **Reply #346 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 08:08 PM »

rude the dude · « **Reply #347 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 08:13 PM »

are you finishing that off on a boil like that.? It's best to slow it down at the end. looks like you have a pretty good stash going.

maineduckhunter · « **Reply #348 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 08:15 PM »

Quote from: rude the dude on Apr 01, 2011, 08:13 PM

are you finishing that off on a boil like that.? It's best to slow it down at the end. looks like you have a pretty good stash going.

Thanks for the info..I appreciate it!!!

maineduckhunter · « **Reply #349 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 09:04 PM »

20+ gallons of sap....equals....

mainedukblaster · « **Reply #350 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 10:22 PM »

looks great adam!!!

blufloyd · « **Reply #351 on:** Apr 01, 2011, 11:56 PM »

Looks like a great year. Pm me if you want to spare some.

pipeboy98 · « **Reply #352 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 12:20 AM »

do you guys boil it down and finish it in the same day or do you let it settle for a week and then finish it? i ran into a guy here in wisconsin that boils it down to syrup, puts each batch into 5 gallon pails and lets em sit for a week or two. after that he pours off the top as best he can, reboils it, then cans it...no filtering required. his stuff looked good i just don't know about the two week waiting period. granted he is making between 10 and 15 gallons at a crack compared to my 1-2 gallon batches, but i just don't know about the no filtering.
oh and as long as i'm here i'm going to be boiling down 75 gallons of sap tomorrow morning so i should be able to take a few pics of my rig...nothing too exciting, but for my first year i was pleasantly surprised at the results!

gamefisher · « **Reply #353 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 05:44 AM »

Quote from: pipeboy98 on Apr 02, 2011, 12:20 AM

do you guys boil it down and finish it in the same day or do you let it settle for a week and then finish it? i ran into a guy here in wisconsin that boils it down to syrup, puts each batch into 5 gallon pails and lets em sit for a week or two. after that he pours off the top as best he can, reboils it, then cans it...no filtering required. his stuff looked good i just don't know about the two week waiting period. granted he is making between 10 and 15 gallons at a crack compared to my 1-2 gallon batches, but i just don't know about the no filtering.
oh and as long as i'm here i'm going to be boiling down 75 gallons of sap tomorrow morning so i should be able to take a few pics of my rig...nothing too exciting, but for my first year i was pleasantly surprised at the results!

A lot of the old time syrupers do it that way, stuff that's close to syrup or syrup is pretty resistant to spoilage, unlike sap. In an ideal world we would all boil the same day we get our sap when freshest but just doesn't happen with work commitments, etc. I have more sap than I can get through today, I'm going to boil what I can but leave it right in the big pan tonight and re-start in the morning, won't be any problems with doing it that way. This final batch I plan on filtering BUT letting it sit 1-2 days in a cool spot and let it settle before bottling just to see what it looks like.

I'm guessing I will have close to 75 gal. to plow through this weekend also.

I've had enough and am pulling taps as well, what a yr.!

Epkomd · « **Reply #354 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 02:40 PM »

MDH, your stuff looks alot like mine.

The Rusty Crab · « **Reply #355 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 04:36 PM »

Someone should bring some for a door prize at the banquet

The Rusty Crab · « **Reply #356 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 04:37 PM »

Or PM me with how much you want for a 1/2 gallon of the good stuff

brace · « **Reply #357 on:** Apr 03, 2011, 02:08 PM »

Greetings All,

Just got back from a weekend of boiling at camp. Arrived yesterday morning and after shoveling out camp and breaking out the maple trail, we were able to collect 40+ gallons of Sap - A decent flow, but certainly not great. Starting boiling at 11:00am, and had the syrup in jars and everything cleaned up by 6:30pm. Great weather and a nice trip:

Nice rolling boil:

A front view of my set-up. Absolutely nothing fancy, but it gets the job done:

Decided to expedite the final boil-off, which was a very bad idea, but it definately boiled fast:

Moved it inside for the final-final:

Really nice looking syrup - Super clear, which would suggest I've got at least a few more weekends left to boil. I ended up with 4.5 qts of syrup. Well, as I mentioned previously - Forcing the final boil is never a good idea, and in this instance I managed to overcook the batch, causing some pretty serious crystalization:

Hope everyone else is enjoying the season as much as I am.

maineduckhunter · « **Reply #358 on:** Apr 03, 2011, 02:53 PM »

NICE Brian!!!

Looks Awesome!!!

The Rusty Crab · « **Reply #359 on:** Apr 03, 2011, 05:29 PM »

I finally got some sap today went to my mother in laws and she has some huge maples like over 20 of them total so I put in 10 taps and in 2 hours 3.5 gallons. this being my first time I'm boiling a small batch inside to get the feel for it. I'll post pics later.

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Author Topic: OT Maple Taps (Read 156104 times)