ALMOST MAPLE SYRUP TIME that's why you haven't...........

Mrs._Stump_Jumper · February 06, 2005, 03:37:35 PM

seen us lately.

Here are some PICS showing what we have been doin'.

Mrs._Stump_Jumper · February 06, 2005, 03:46:12 PM

Couldn't figure out how to get a couple of more pics on.

But in the last post I am not sure if you can see, but there are hoses running from tree to tree we are changing the way we collect sap this year. We are goin to a hose system. Before we had gallon jugs attatched to each tree this made it very time consuming in collecting. There will be over 200 hundred trees that will be tapped. So Stump Jumper has been very busy with his father to try to get this all ready for sap season.

Here is a picture of the sleeping quarters and below that are pictures of the burner and pans that they have made and/or put together.

Paschale · February 06, 2005, 03:54:28 PM

If I remember correctly, I think it takes 40 gallons of raw syrup to make one finished gallon. Is that right? How many gallons of syrup are you guys able to manufacture? It'd sure be fun to buy some from a fellow FFer!

Mrs._Stump_Jumper · February 06, 2005, 04:03:32 PM

Paschale

It veries on how many gallons of sap to make syrup on the average about 50-60 at the end of the season it takes more because there is less sugar content in the sap.

This is the first year we have tapped this many trees in the past it has been like 150 or less if my memory serves me right. I will have to get with Stump Jumper to find out how many gallons in the past they have done I can't recall. We did this the year before last and skipped last year because we needed a better system.

They only had one pan to process the sap in.

This year it will go a lot quicker becuase of the 3 pan system also.

EZ · February 06, 2005, 04:57:57 PM

Home made syrup, aint nothing better, Ican taste it already.
Thats pretty cool, thats some thing that I need to do.
EZ

thecfarm · February 06, 2005, 05:53:29 PM

Don't look like you have much snow.Sap will flow better with snow melting if I remember correctly.Freezing nights and warm sunny days help.We don't have much snow here in Maine.Maybe a foot.I can go anywheres I want with my tractor to cut wood.Should have a good couple feet at least by now.Hope you have a good run.

Furby · February 07, 2005, 01:07:40 AM

Can you explain a bit about the burner?
Do you build a fire on top of the grating?
Then the pans go over top and the smoke is drawn out the flue, right?

I use to make small amounts of syrup, but do to my "crude" DIY method it wasn't the best stuff ever made, but real sweet none the less!

ronwood · February 07, 2005, 09:21:30 AM

Mrs._Stump_Jumper,

Do you have any problems with the sap freezing in the lines?

Ron

Ernie · February 07, 2005, 01:46:46 PM

I.m an expat Canadian, lived in NZ for 35 years. about 12 years ago, I planted a sugar maple it's now about 12" dbh, every spring for the last three years, I've tried to tap it with no luck at all. Our min temperature in winter is about 35 degrees F with no definite spring change. Is there any hope? or should I just keep enjoying the autumn colours?

SwampDonkey · February 07, 2005, 07:03:58 PM

My cousins next door have made a family business from maple syrup and Christmas tree production. They have been getting ready to tap as well. Our snow fall was about 14 inches and it's now settled to about 8 inches in the bush and 4 inches in the fields. I dunno where it all went. This 30's mild weather kinda helped I suppose. I even seen a robin on sunday. I'm not puttin my stove shovel away just yet, but I've only used the blower once this year.

I hope it's a good sap season this year, it hasn't been that good the last couple of years.

cheers

Sawyerfortyish · February 07, 2005, 08:29:26 PM

Mrs Stump jumper How big is your evaporator? I bought a 4'x10' evaporator late last spring with hopes of having it all ready to go this spring. But it don't look like i'm going to make it happen :(. Just like the smell of fresh cut lumber there ain't nothing more enjoyable than the smell of sap cooking. Keep us posted on your progress.

isawlogs · February 07, 2005, 08:40:14 PM

Ernie
I aint no expert on taping ... but we have been taping for as long as I can remember and we tape on average 500 mapples ... For the sap to run ... you need to have a good frost atnight and sunny no wind during the day ... now it will run if not this temp. but this is ideal ... If you are not geting the frost and there is no temp difference you might be only looking at the color change in the falll .... Wich is not all that bad ... If you want I can sent you some Syrop d'érable when we start this spring ... I wunder if it can be shiped ... I could get it canned by a friend of ours .... We only bottle it ....
Swomp.
We still have over 16 inches here in the fields and near 2 feet in the bush .... ;)

SwampDonkey · February 08, 2005, 07:45:00 AM

isawlogs,

I have some pics ready to post of around the yard and fields beside the house.

Ernie · February 08, 2005, 11:51:05 AM

Isawlogs---Thanks for the offer, every time I go back to Canada, Ontario, I bring home about 4 gallons of the beautiful stuff, mostly to drink in small sips from the can. much to the disgust of the rest of the family. I just can't resist. The last time, as I was going through the States, each can had to be opened and checked to see if it was explosive, at least the checker had the decency not to take too large a sample. With our weather patterns and your explanation of the requirements for a sap flow, I guess I'll just have to admire the autumn change in colours and look at my tree and reminisce about home.

Mrs._Stump_Jumper · February 13, 2005, 05:15:30 PM

Sawyerfortyish

Our arch is a 30" x 10' long. We have four homemade flat pans. To fit the arch.

Furby

The fire grates we found at the junk yard. They were floor grates (cast iron) fit perfect. Yes the fire is built on top of the grates. We are going to try and to run a blower for forced draft. The pans is basically the fire box top so you have to keep sap in them at all times when the fire is burning or you will scorch and warp the pans.

ronwood

This is the first year with a pipeline system so far yes sap is froze in the pipe but nothing will break and soon as the sun hits it is thawed.

I think we have answered everybody questions if we forgot one I am sorry.

Things are going well still do not have all of the trees tapped. Putting in this pipeline takes time and there is quite the learning curve. But once it is up you can leave it up and just clean out the lines and pull the taps and plug the taps.

We will keep you updated. Will have more pics to follow. Just came home to check the forum and bring in wood and check the animals and fill the stove.

Delcy and Jeff

sawguy21 · February 13, 2005, 05:26:28 PM

We don't have sugar maples here in the west but I was in southern Ontario last week. Had pancakes on Shrove Tuesday with real maple syrup for the first time since I was a kid. MMMM

SwampDonkey · February 13, 2005, 06:00:40 PM

They do that here to sawguy21. That's all my uncle talked about for days before the pancake luncheon at the church. ;D

Corley5 · February 13, 2005, 08:52:29 PM

Squirrels love sap pipelines that are left up year round ;) We never left any lines up. We had 20-30 trees on a run that emptied into a 55 gallon drum with a lid. We'd drive up to the barrel and bail it into barrels on the loader bucket. The trees were painted, the lines tagged and we had a diagram where they all went to put them up the next year. We used to tap 400 or so trees. The tubing is in the garage and the flat pans are in the barn. Once Zach's a bit older Dad and I plan to make a bit. Our supply is running thin now anyway ;)

Furby · February 13, 2005, 09:34:49 PM

Yeah, from what I've been reading, you should remove those lines each season.

Corley5 · February 13, 2005, 09:45:03 PM

There'a a big syrup operation just a bit north of me and they leave their main pipelines up year round. They run everything into progressively larger tubing and vacuum pump the sap directly into big holding tanks at the cook shack. Every year before they start tapping they back flush the lines with water to find and repair the squirrel chews. They've got quite an operation. Last I heard they had about 35 miles of tubing up and have gone with a reverse osmosis machine to reduce the water content of the sap before boiling begins in the evaporator.

Furby · February 13, 2005, 09:54:23 PM

Dat's a BIG operation all right!

Mrs._Stump_Jumper · February 17, 2005, 02:29:56 PM

I am checking in things are going well have over 200 taps in and they are putting up more when I get a chance I will take some more pics and put them on.

Delcy

SwampDonkey · February 17, 2005, 06:10:23 PM

Corley, that reverse Osmosis machine is what my cousin uses now. Saves on the fuel bill.

Some of the problem with chewed piping is by quill dogs too. They chew anything with rubber and plastic. They'll take the tires of your hunting trailor if ya leasve it at one spot long enough. One night camping, one almost took to truck tires off the pickup untill I drove the buzzard outta the camp yard. I could here this chewing outside and I desided to take the flashlight, and sure enough a quill dog was chewing the white wall off the side of the tire. The next day I found bits of hose on a forest harvest landing where the bugger was chewing up.

Corley5 · February 17, 2005, 11:09:38 PM

A logger I once worked for left his clam truck on a job unattended for a few weeks and the porkies proceeded to eat anything on it that was rubber or rubber coated. Radiator hoses, heater hoses, hydraulic and brake lines, tires, fuel lines etc. The truck never ran again. He moved the clam to another old truck. ;D

junkyard · February 18, 2005, 10:24:20 AM

I had 800 taps on a 2x6 evaporator boiled 3 eighteen hour days for every one day the sap ran. Waayyy to much fun. Only hang about sixty just for fun. layed a 55 gallon drum on its side cut a door in the end cut off the top put on two sixteen by twenytyfour inch pans. build a fire. Set and talk with freinds and neighbors. Syrup is dark and heavy but that is the best kind. Best of all my son loves it even takes vacation for sugaring. Several three to twelve thousand tap producers in the area. some times we go visting just to see how the big boys do it. Reverse osmosis preheaters ect. Two miles from American Maple Museum. Thuosands of gallons of local syrup shipped to Vermont from this area.
Junkyard