Author Topic: OT Maple Taps (Read 156761 times)

Keychain · « **Reply #900 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 01:51 PM »

Ouch is right. Hope you can get that taken care of. Agreed that things seem to be running well in Central Maine. My dad is in Winslow and he's gotten more out of 4 taps the past couple of days than I've pulled from 30 in Gray.

BrownTroutBoy · « **Reply #901 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 02:08 PM »

Boiled off 15 gal. this morning, syrup isn't getting darker yet like I heard it should, trees are running better than ever!

pfscott · « **Reply #902 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 02:10 PM »

We're looking at a short season, collected about 500 gal off 600 taps so far, and the weather don't look promising. Might just sell the sap and not dirty the evaporator.

rude the dude · « **Reply #903 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 02:52 PM »

I had 40 gal. yesterday. from 20 taps, over 2 days is about 1 gal a tap for me. Going to empty em tonight before the rain. Who knows after today.

BrownTroutBoy · « **Reply #904 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 02:57 PM »

My suger count seams low almost 50:1 or even lower. Tapping a lot of reds however.

BrownTroutBoy · « **Reply #905 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 05:53 PM »

The product of about 12 gallons.

hornberg · « **Reply #906 on:** Apr 04, 2014, 07:25 PM »

Quote from: Westerly on Apr 04, 2014, 09:57 AM

Took the day off yesterday to boil some of this sap I'm swimming in. Should've just gone in to work because I got a little sidetracked working on other things and burned up my pan. (Not my proudest moment. ) I'm still sitting on 100+ gallons and need to get back at it, so any of you experienced guys have any magic tricks for taking this black off? It's been soaked in vinegar, scrubbed, scraped and soaked again over night (all without doing much good). Planning to light a fire under the vinegar tonight then scrub the crap out of it with Bar Keepers Friend but after that, I'm out of ideas.

(Image removed from quote.)

Try a drill with a wire brush in the end of it, also try a orbital sander with 40-60 grit sand paper. Good luck. I've also heard letting raw sap sit in the pan for a 24 hours plus also works.

rockhound57 · « **Reply #907 on:** Apr 05, 2014, 04:05 AM »

warm the pan to 180-200*, spray with original Easy-Off (yellow can), let sit 2 hrs to work, scrape with a sharp scraper, rinse with Dawn soap, DRY THOROUGHLY, repeat if needed. Depending on how it looks after the first try, alternate cooking (boiling) some white vineger for 10 minutes or so with the Easy-Off treatment. Easy-Off is a base, vinegar is acid, they may work together to help chew it up It won't be easy, but should work better than risking damage from wire wheels or sanders.

As a last resort, get some Muriatic Acid (drain and pipe cleaner) from a plumbing supply (or maybe Lowes), but be careful- don't breathe the fumes or let it splash on anything you don't want to lose, including skin

hornberg · « **Reply #908 on:** Apr 05, 2014, 07:12 AM »

What would the damage be?

? It's a stainless STEEL pan. U worried about scratches? LOL!

gamefisher · « **Reply #909 on:** Apr 05, 2014, 07:38 AM »

Great progress on the filtering and bottling BTB, you are getting the hang of it now! Any updates on the pan Ryan?

I have picked up 25 gal or so this week that I need to get busy on.

Westerly · « **Reply #910 on:** Apr 06, 2014, 08:02 AM »

Don't ever burn your pan... After many tedious hours of scrubbing, boiling vinegar, scraping, muriatic acid, baking soda, scraping, scrubbing, Easy Off, and more scrubbing and scraping, my fingers are pretty chewed up but it finally came clean. Now I'm trying to work through all the sap that built up while I couldn't boil. I can't stress enough how much that process sucked. NEVER BURN YOUR PAN!

gamefisher · « **Reply #911 on:** Apr 06, 2014, 09:00 AM »

Quote from: Westerly on Apr 06, 2014, 08:02 AM

Don't ever burn your pan... After many tedious hours of scrubbing, boiling vinegar, scraping, muriatic acid, baking soda, scraping, scrubbing, Easy Off, and more scrubbing and scraping, my fingers are pretty chewed up but it finally came clean. Now I'm trying to work through all the sap that built up while I couldn't boil. I can't stress enough how much that process sucked. NEVER BURN YOUR PAN!

(Image removed from quote.)

Way to stick with it Ryan, guess those side projects can wait when boiling sap now.

Grumpy · « **Reply #912 on:** Apr 06, 2014, 03:07 PM »

Wow , glad to see you got that beauty of a pan cleaned back up!!
Hey thanks guys , I have learned a lot here about fishin, what gear is good... and how to make awesome maple syrup! !
Here is my first ever attempt. Came out really well!
... but NO sap today? !

gamefisher · « **Reply #913 on:** Apr 06, 2014, 05:45 PM »

Quote from: Grumpy on Apr 06, 2014, 03:07 PM

Wow , glad to see you got that beauty of a pan cleaned back up!!
Hey thanks guys , I have learned a lot here about fishin, what gear is good... and how to make awesome maple syrup! !
Here is my first ever attempt. Came out really well!
... but NO sap today? !

Your stuff looks good grumpy. No sap today, didn't freeze last night. I think we will run Mon., Thurs., Sat., Sun. and then be done, short, short season, not sure about the coast. $:-\$ I finished and bottled a 30 gal. boil this afternoon, kids have already had probably a pint on ice cream.

Sugar content seems outstanding this year.

RocketRollinSX · « **Reply #914 on:** Apr 06, 2014, 08:17 PM »

We did well this weekend. Had really good runs on Thursday and Friday. Put up just shy of 450 gallons of sap, bottled just over 12 gallons which puts us at almost 21 gallons for the season. Not even half way to where we should be at this point. Hopefully we get a few more weeks!

rude the dude · « **Reply #915 on:** Apr 07, 2014, 04:32 AM »

you'll be lucky for a few more days . I had a steady run from Tue till yesterday. After today, who knows maybe another day or two if were lucky unless the forcast changes dramatically. I've made 3 gallons so far. Not bad really. I had 5 last year. Hoping for one more. 22 taps.

pfscott · « **Reply #916 on:** Apr 07, 2014, 12:37 PM »

Ran pretty good here past few days, up to about 1400 gal off 600 taps, still thinking we are about done. It's been testing 2.8-3.1, but also loosing about 35 bags per day to tree rats.

gamefisher · « **Reply #917 on:** Apr 07, 2014, 01:09 PM »

Sure is thumping good in central Maine today.

Keychain · « **Reply #918 on:** Apr 07, 2014, 10:02 PM »

Not much "thumping" down in southern Maine, but I've boiled off almost 50 gallons giving a better yield than I expected. 12.5 pints made so far. Collected 3 gals today to go along with 5 or so already sitting in the tank. I'm giving them another day or two then I'm done. A short season but I'd agree with gamefisher's assessment that the sugar content seemed high this year. Seems like I got at least two pints more than I expected.

waltman · « **Reply #919 on:** Apr 07, 2014, 10:37 PM »

good reading

Big wood · « **Reply #920 on:** Apr 08, 2014, 04:49 AM »

X2 on sugar content. I'm seeing 32:1 ratio this year when I'm normally closer to 38:1

Westerly · « **Reply #921 on:** Apr 08, 2014, 11:28 AM »

Still playing catch up thanks to the pan episode. Finished off a gallon and a half last night but yesterday's good run has me with back up over 100 gal buried in the snow behind the house. Gotta take another vacation day tomorrow to boil. Agree with what you all are saying about sugar content - most of my trees are soft maples in the woods and are usually 45-1 at best. This is the first year I've been able to get 40-1 or better.

Might run on Thursday but thinking I'm done after that.

Keychain · « **Reply #922 on:** Apr 09, 2014, 09:46 PM »

Pulled all my stuff in today. There might be a bit of a run tomorrow but I'm out of town for most of next week and wouldn't have time to process any more. Even though it was a light season I ended up with more syrup than my first two years, close to 2 gallons. Anyone else think twice about whether it's worth the effort when you're cleaning all your buckets and stuff at the end? I sure did today...

BrownTroutBoy · « **Reply #923 on:** Apr 10, 2014, 08:52 AM »

I pulled half my taps yesterday going to boil my last 5 gallons tonight and call it a season.

gamefisher · « **Reply #924 on:** Apr 10, 2014, 09:52 AM »

Quote from: Keychain on Apr 09, 2014, 09:46 PM

Pulled all my stuff in today. There might be a bit of a run tomorrow but I'm out of town for most of next week and wouldn't have time to process any more. Even though it was a light season I ended up with more syrup than my first two years, close to 2 gallons. Anyone else think twice about whether it's worth the effort when you're cleaning all your buckets and stuff at the end? I sure did today...

I think the best move I ever made on this hobby was going away from spiles and buckets to water jugs and tubing, anything you can do to reduce the clean up is a good move!

I'm not sure what is worse, cleaning up after sapping or getting the ice shack, fishing stuff, and snowmobiles put away. $:-\$

26 this morning at my house, looking for a good run today, and then pulling the plug this weekend. Lake is still white and tight so fishing gear isn't being put away quite yet.

Keychain · « **Reply #925 on:** Apr 10, 2014, 09:08 PM »

The last time I hit the ice was for a couple hours on 3/24. I'll be in San Antonio for about a week so I guess my hardwater season is done. Good luck to those still getting out there.

After pulling everything yesterday, I saw this scene on several trees tonight. Made me wonder if I should have given it just one more day...

Grumpy · « **Reply #926 on:** Apr 11, 2014, 01:56 AM »

Hey guys, should a dowel cut and tapped into this season's tap hole to protect the tree?
I have just enough sap for a small boil off!

gamefisher · « **Reply #927 on:** Apr 11, 2014, 04:33 AM »

No, they will heal on their own. Good run here yesterday, that will do it for me.

Quote from: Grumpy on Apr 11, 2014, 01:56 AM

Hey guys, should a dowel cut and tapped into this season's tap hole to protect the tree?
I have just enough sap for a small boil off!

Keychain · « **Reply #928 on:** Apr 11, 2014, 12:38 PM »

Quote from: gamefisher on Apr 11, 2014, 04:33 AM

No, they will heal on their own. Good run here yesterday, that will do it for me.

I wondered that my first year too, but if you zoom in a bit on the pic, you can see the first hole from two years ago just a couple inches below and to the left of this year's. It's pretty well all filled in. Last year's is 6-8 inches above and to the left and it looks well healed up too.

gamefisher · « **Reply #929 on:** Apr 16, 2014, 05:54 AM »

Anybody still tapped? I pulled mine because we are taking off on a trip end of the week but 26 here this morning, forecasting a good three day run. The reds have budded but still small, the rock maples haven't even started, amazing to think you could still be sapping this late. I agree with all the comments about sugar content. I only made just shy of 6 quarts this year but that came from only 47 gal. of sap, nice quality as well.

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Author Topic: OT Maple Taps (Read 156761 times)