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~55 taps in, another 45 to go, plus another 10-15 if I want to add more lines. (click make big)  This was the drip I was getting as soon as I had the tank cleaned out; only had ~20-25 taps in at the time.  Here's the critical moment; you can see that when the tap hits a certain point there's a bubble backwards as the valve rolls and sap starts to flow.  I had this much fall into my tank from 20-25 taps within about 20 mins of having cleaned out the tank.  I cleaned out my murder shack pretty good last summer.  Cutting out a block of snow/ice with a hot water hose feels like a really, really lame version of laser cutting.   Different year; same splicing-poo poo-on-ladders-propped-on-ice bullshit. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Feb 24, 2020 |
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Feb 24, 2020 00:55
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Sweet thread OP. I did a bunch of sugaring in high school and college and it’s making me nostalgic for those days, which is not something I ever thought I’d say.
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Feb 24, 2020 01:45
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Awesome stuff. Once when I was a kid I went to a syrup farm (idk is there a name for it?) and it was cool.
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Feb 24, 2020 16:37
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Been busy, but its been a season here. I dont have much to compare, but like 186 taps with 1000+ gallons of 1% to 1.3% roughly 12ish gallons so far. The RO bucket is essential. Buy the biggest one you can afford with a shutoff valve on low pressure.
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Feb 24, 2020 20:58
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Gath posted:Been busy, but its been a season here. I dont have much to compare, but like 186 taps with 1000+ gallons of 1% to 1.3% roughly 12ish gallons so far. Sage advice; not in the budget for this year. I ran 700gal sap total last year for 14.5gal syrup; I can do that volume on my setup as is no problem. RO will come eventually, maybe vacuum. I cut out some of the grosser bits of line with crud on the inside, but I guess boiling kills all that ails? I've drank my share of straight sap already and I'm not dead yet. There was maybe 15gal sitting out there around 3pm today, but I'm thinking I may be in for a small first boil tomorrow (I wasn't all tapped in until 3).  Looks like a couple runs here.
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Feb 25, 2020 02:34
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I learned today that the tin i used to cover the evap after boil makes my syrup taste like iron. If it condenses and drips back into pan.  thats a half gallon down the drain.
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Feb 28, 2020 16:02
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Gath posted:I learned today that the tin i used to cover the evap after boil makes my syrup taste like iron. If it condenses and drips back into pan.  that's a bummer.I should probably cover my pans, ha, but they're inside a shed, and I double filter everything before sterile canning. It's been very, very cold which has suited me well because I have been sick. I seem to be around the corner on that, and we're going to get some weather into the upper 30s and maybe 40s. Obnoxiously it has been very sunny and with the warmth comes rain, but we'll see what the week holds. I do not think my neighbors tapped at all this year, which makes me a little sad; they are fairly aged, and I liked seeing them out on ATVs with saws and poo poo. Hopefully my own season is good enough that I can at least give them some...
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Mar 1, 2020 23:33
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I haven't been updating because of job search plus COVID prep but we are in full swing here, I think I'm like 200gal in, finishing a second batch today.
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Mar 13, 2020 22:13
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400 gallons sap through.  At ~8gallons finished, probably another gallon or so in the pan. Things are slowing down, it may not be a great year but that's the least of my worries right now. Assuming 9 gallons, 4 for us, probably $250 profit, less 235 expenses for the year... so, if it ends now, it'd be close to "break even, with a ton of syrup for us", except I spent $800 having the power company deal with the tree I inexpertly dropped on a line. So, hopefully I get a few gallons more to help start paying that off...
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Mar 28, 2020 22:32
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Question for people who run an RO unit and a filter press. How much -if any- of your setup from one machine is usable with the other? Like if you were starting over from the ground up, is there anything you would tweak so it could run double duty?
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Mar 29, 2020 19:02
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Had her running a little hot last night I think that's it though, I'm done. 2.5 gallons off the first boil from noon to 11pm 2 weeks ago. 5 gallons off the second and last boil. It's frustrating seeing the buckets fill up faster than you can boil but better having too much than too little. I really need to make that bucket RO. The first batch turned out really gorgeous, filtered nicely and super light color. 
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Mar 29, 2020 19:12
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Dude you've got snow on the ground and light coloured syrup. It is clearly still early in the season for you.
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Mar 29, 2020 19:18
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DreadLlama posted:Dude you've got snow on the ground and light coloured syrup. It is clearly still early in the season for you. People around here might go one more week, two tops. I'm getting moths in the buckets already and that light batch was two weeks ago. I haven't bottled the stuff from last night yet, it'll definitely be darker mostly because I was going right from buckets to the evaporator. Next 7 days has lows around 0 which won't be enough to pump a lot and highs around 7-10 so I'll have to collect the little bits each day and refrigerate or mess with ice blocks. I don't sell much, so just need enough for gifts/family/us, I'm good. Time to start getting ready for fishing season.
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Mar 29, 2020 19:27
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Do you ever go down a wikipedia rabbit hole and find yourself unable to refrain from asking too many stupid questions on the internet? Look at this thing:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler#Misting_systems posted:Evaporative coolers lower the temperature of air using the principle of evaporative cooling, unlike typical air conditioning systems which use vapor-compression refrigeration or absorption refrigeration. Evaporative cooling is the conversion of liquid water into vapor using the thermal energy in the air, resulting in a lower air temperature. The energy needed to evaporate the water is taken from the air in the form of sensible heat, which affects the temperature of the air, and converted into latent heat, the energy present in the water vapor component of the air, whilst the air remains at a constant enthalpy value. This conversion of sensible heat to latent heat is known as an isenthalpic process because it occurs at a constant enthalpy value. Evaporative cooling therefore causes a drop in the temperature of air proportional to the sensible heat drop and an increase in humidity proportional to the latent heat gain. Do you ever wonder if there isn't an alternate universe in which sugar shacks resemble giant shower stalls and concentrate sap by cooling it?
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Mar 30, 2020 01:35
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DreadLlama now I want/need to smoke weed at 10:13AM, thanks for the headache! This is kind of neat because left to right: My 1st run this year, my 3rd run this year, my 1st run last year. I am getting better at this.
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Mar 31, 2020 15:13
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 2.5g of Jack Herrar shatter and some first run. I am gonna take a shot at maple candy and THC infused candy. I am aiming for 3-500mg of decarbed shatter per piece candy. For me, these will be "just right". For normies they will be "uh, eat like 10% of one and wait 2 hours". 
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Apr 7, 2020 15:37
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Did you put butter in or...? That couldn't just work by leaving it in your finishing pan, could it? Is that what you did? Dude.
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Apr 8, 2020 19:15
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I'm double posting because I have an idea and I want to know if anyone else has this idea. https://www.farmandfleet.com/blog/filtering-maple-syrup/#:~:text=Use%20a%20candy%20thermometer%2C%20if,need%20to%20be%20re%2Dfiltered. [quote]if the syrup cools below 180°F, it will be too thick to be filtered and will need to be reheated. Maple syrup that has been heated above 200°F will release more sugar sand and will need to be re-filtered. https://www.amazon.ca/KleenWater-Temperature-Filters-Inhibitor-Maximum/dp/B00M8AA1BI High Temperature Water Filter Cartridge - maximum temperature 180 degrees Fahrenheit At $225 CAD this https://www.amazon.ca/KleenWater-Mounting-Bracket-Cartridges-Inhibitor/dp/B00LPNWYHI is an expensive filter. But the smallest CDL vaccum filter is $679.00 https://webstore.cdlinc.ca/en/9-vacuum-filter-press-accessories. The price is comparable to single filter gravity filtration tank. https://webstore.cdlinc.ca/en/mini-filter-tank-5-gal-imp Has anyone else noticed this? I wish there were a Project Farm but just for maple syrup.
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Jun 13, 2020 17:14
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DreadLlama posted:I'm double posting because I have an idea and I want to know if anyone else has this idea. I'm going to try a DIY double stock pot vacuum filter next year, they seem relatively simple to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCi-aqf-TiA My last batch, I didn't filter at all, I just put about 15 liters in a covered stock pot and left it for 3 days to let the sediment settle. Used a scoop to put it in a clean pot, heated that stuff up to 190 and jarred it. Scooped the rest of the useable stuff into our house syrup and lost maybe 100ml with the sludge.
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Jun 14, 2020 00:36
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DreadLlama posted:Did you put butter in or...? That couldn't just work by leaving it in your finishing pan, could it? Is that what you did? Dude.
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Jun 14, 2020 17:49
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I know it's not the season but I'm knee deep in a DIY moneypit and found that CDL now sells a micro RO unit. https://webstore.cdlinc.ca/en/hobby-reverse-osmosis-2membrane-micro-ro You can build something comparable from parts on amazon, but some of the guides on youtube recommend a brass needle valve, which is not explicitly guaranteed lead-free. The CDL unit probably uses only potable water rated plumbing fittings. It's not too late to start your own DIY project before fun season starts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BOO2L1RD2s Just be careful of brass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass#Lead_content posted:To enhance the machinability of brass, lead is often added in concentrations of around 2%. Since lead has a lower melting point than the other constituents of the brass, it tends to migrate towards the grain boundaries in the form of globules as it cools from casting. The pattern the globules form on the surface of the brass increases the available lead surface area which in turn affects the degree of leaching. In addition, cutting operations can smear the lead globules over the surface. These effects can lead to significant lead leaching from brasses of comparatively low lead content.[12]
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Nov 1, 2020 07:25
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DreadLlama posted:I know it's not the season but I'm knee deep in a DIY moneypit and found that CDL now sells a micro RO unit. this company makes relatively inexpensive products aimed specifically at syrup; their higher end model costs around what that CDL does: https://www.therobucket.com/product-category/ro-buckets/ I think they claim like a 50% plus reduction in boil time. I know that one of the bigger local places here has a system that cuts the boil time by a factor of 7. I don't think it's going to happen this year, but hopefully for the next.
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Nov 2, 2020 23:45
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I bought 120 taps last week. My wife is due 3/29 and she sorta rolled her eyes at me, but, The Sap Must Flow. Anyone tapped in yet?
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Jan 22, 2021 22:49
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I haven't. But I started using tubes for the first time last year and, I have a question for you tube people. How do you clean your tubes? I found black mold.
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Jan 24, 2021 04:35
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DreadLlama posted:I haven't. But I started using tubes for the first time last year and, I have a question for you tube people. How do you clean your tubes? I found black mold. Drop tubes? Had the same problem a bit last year, I cut the spouts off and scrubbed them with a gun cleaning rod with a bleach dilute soaked soft tip, I think .308. Triple rinse/dry, new spouts and they were good to go
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Jan 25, 2021 06:32
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I want to try my hand at sugaring this year, as a born and bred Vermonter I feel like I'm denying my heritage to not do SOMETHING. It'll just be a very small boil, I have only one maple tree on my property, though it's a big one, about 3' diameter. HOWEVER, it is a silver maple...can I get syrup from that? My cursory research shows yes, but basically it's a smaller sugar content than a black or sugar maple, and it has a shorter season to get good sap, so I'd be hard pressed to get much syrup after it's all collected and boiled. Wondering if it's worth the time and effort?
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Jan 25, 2021 17:40
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I say go for it. Everyone starts out with one tap. Sometimes they add their second tap in 4 seconds. Sometimes in 4 years. You'll get less syrup for a given volume of sap than if you'd had sugar maple. But you don't have that and have nothing to compare to. So it'll seem like a good amount anyway. edit: And I mean like a third of the way down a 80m length of 3/8 tubing. I don't have any brushes that long and if I have to take the tube down I'm going to install a new one. I see some other people leave their tube up during the off season. How do they clean mainlines? edit edit: Cursory googling indicates that concentrated hydrogen peroxide is the answer. I should have rinsed my tube with hydrogen peroxide last spring. DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jan 26, 2021 |
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Jan 26, 2021 06:37
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DreadLlama posted:And I mean like a third of the way down a 80m length of 3/8 tubing. I don't have any brushes that long and if I have to take the tube down I'm going to install a new one. I see some other people leave their tube up during the off season. How do they clean mainlines? Use a vacuum to suck a string all the way through, then pull a brush behind, then follow with sanitizer.
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Jan 26, 2021 16:03
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DrBouvenstein posted:I want to try my hand at sugaring this year, as a born and bred Vermonter I feel like I'm denying my heritage to not do SOMETHING. It's been awhile, but if I recall the UVM Extension used to have some pretty good resources. Also, hello fellow Vermonter! 
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Jan 27, 2021 00:55
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Use a vacuum to suck a string all the way through, then pull a brush behind, then follow with sanitizer. Oh my god that's genius. Thank you sir.
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Jan 27, 2021 20:32
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Cabbages and Kings posted:I bought 120 taps last week. My wife is due 3/29 and she sorta rolled her eyes at me, but, The Sap Must Flow. I switched jobs around the end of the year, and where I am now does sugaring, so I’m excited to get back into it. We tapped our 3/16” gravity line a couple weeks ago before the snow really accumulated. About 800 taps I think it was. Haven’t touched the vacuum lines yet.
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Jan 28, 2021 17:29
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJLchfHOOj0 It's got a 5 micron filter and a 1 micron filter and two 75gallon-per-day membranes in series. It's got dual flowmeters, it's solar powered, the waste product is drinking water, and the knot holes are filled in with phosphorescent powder so it glows in the dark. 
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Feb 18, 2021 04:45
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DreadLlama posted:I haven't. But I started using tubes for the first time last year and, I have a question for you tube people. How do you clean your tubes? I found black mold. Someone here told me UVM did a study comparing cleaning lines at all, to not, and found no quality or purity difference. The second year I blasted my lines out with a hose. Last year I didn't, but at the end of the season I was a lot quicker to pull taps out and cut them. All sap is going to have bacteria and weird poo poo in it, that's why it spoils in the sun. Once it's boiled and filtered it's fine. Some people use dilute h2o2 and I've heard of bleach; I don't like using chemicals if I can avoid it. If I see obvious nastiness in a T or a while line, I cut it out and replace it, but a couple little mold spots doesn't faze me much, if I go look at any of the huge operations around here long enough I'll find mold spots in their lines. Relevant: http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29538-mold-in-a-few-drops We'll see how much I need to replace... Planning on tapping this weekend. This might be the last year on these lines, I want to go to 3/16" Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Feb 18, 2021 |
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Feb 18, 2021 12:57
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Well, I got about 40% of my taps in. Not the 100 I was going for, but, calendar looks like I still have clock. Most of my loops looked like this, no nastiness. I found a few places where I hosed up and just did not pull taps last year at all  -- pulled them, and some of those tap lines did look nasty and black/brown so I spent some time yesterday rerunning a line and putting in new taps. I also cut some pretty nasty sections of another line out. poo poo is deep, but I was smart enough to get out on snowshoes earlier this year and maybe avoid some ladder work later.  John Darnielle posted:Some things you'll do for money
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Feb 22, 2021 17:06
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 Chasing vacuum leaks and wishing I had worn snowshoes.
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Mar 1, 2021 19:09
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Cabbages and Kings posted:this company makes relatively inexpensive products aimed specifically at syrup; their higher end model costs around what that CDL does: https://www.therobucket.com/product-category/ro-buckets/ Popping in to say i have this system. I also upgraded this year to r20(?) This will reduce to about 1/3 of what you deal with. I have 1% here and can reduce 36 gal to 12 gal (4%) in one go thru, i can reduce again with a second go thru (8%), but its slower. This is a requirement down in WV. Otherwise i would be chained to evaporator. The autoshutoff is nice accessory if you want to walk away too. This season was better than last. Im 13 gals this year compared to 12 last year. Still burning one last run today too.
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Mar 1, 2021 23:00
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Uncle Lloyd posted:Chasing vacuum leaks and wishing I had worn snowshoes. I have snowshoes because my wife saw two pairs at a swapmeet thing for $15 each two years ago and thought it was a good deal. Boy did that come in handy this year. Tapping when the snow is deeper also kept me from needing a ladder for basically any of my drops. Gath posted:This season was better than last. Im 13 gals this year compared to 12 last year. Still burning one last run today too. Nice! And nice vote of confidence on that RO, I am gonna see if I can budget for that for next season.  gently caress the utility belt, long live the toolbox.  Getting some drips out, but it looked like only a couple gallons of sap in the first 24hrs after getting almost all ~100 taps in. We still have feet of snow on the ground, but next week we're going to have some 30s/40s flip days with sun, so I am hoping stuff opens up.  The diameter here turned out to be perfect so I blasted hose water through everything from the bottom of the drops   I am not at all a neat freak, clearly, but I do go balls to the wall on tank cleaning day because it's the cleanest it will be all year and I don't want a starting point of a 1/8" buildup of minerals and bacterial debris, so I take that poo poo down to shiny silver like Bender's shiny metal rear end. So.... all tapped in, now just have to sit back and see if the sap gets here before Baby Tim Raines IRL #2 shows up to do questionable things to the free time that exists in my life now
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Mar 3, 2021 00:52
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That is a shiny tank! Good luck. My weather has been warm nights with warm days and cold nights with cold days. The only sap I have like is 3 gallons from February frozen solid in the shade while I wait for enough for a full batch. A 24oz mason jar of syrup needs just about 6 gallons of sap and I'm trying to do only full jars this year. Sadly the only thing I've gotten to test my fancy RO thing on is just well water. Different subject: Has anyone got a source for tree seeds online? https://www.treeshrubseeds.com/specieslist?id=1018&ID2=1 My normal guy is out of stock. I want to buy like 5lbs of maple seed.
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Mar 4, 2021 00:57
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No idea where to get seeds, "they grow on trees here" har har. I'm in the same boat with a couplefew gallons of frozen, but, it also pushed whatever nasty BS was in my lines out along with it, so I am going to bust it up and pour hot water through tomorrow. It looks like we should definitely get a run this week; we'll also have two days that hit 50, so, there's some chance that just kicks of budding and we get Shortest Season Ever but I can't control this any more than I can control what's going on with the 8.25 month old fetus in my wife's belly. Nature gonna nature, that's my Spring 2020. If the baby comes BEFORE the sap does, I'm gonna have a problem. "Why isn't Tim in any of these pictures of his newborn???!?" "Oh, you know, it's sugar season there" 
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Mar 7, 2021 19:15
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I had maybe 10gal out there between 11am and 4pm, so it's opening up, but maddeningly it's not going to freeze again until Friday night, looks like, then just stays frozen throughout the day It's certainly possible it just keeps dribbling all night and then opens up more in the sunshine tomorrow. The tanks is still standing in snow, trees show pitting in snow almost to soil now, but everything out there is still under, I dunno, a foot plus of snow and ice. It will be whatever it is.
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Mar 10, 2021 22:59
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