Sugar Shack Friend

I was left high left high and dry today,  my wife was busy, my daughter was in school,  even the dogs were to busy to hang out with me,  but the rooster came out and enjoyed himself in front of the arch. A few times he got to close and singed a few feathers. He lasted until it got dark then head back to the coop to be with his lady friends. I was able to draw off a little over a gallon of syrup this evening.

First draw of syrup

I did the first draw of syrup today.  A little bit over a gallon.  I was hoping for a lot lighter syrup being the first batch, but it taste great and that is all that matters.  I put one pint in a glass Pepsi bottle for my brother's birthday present. He is a big Pepsi fan and I hope he gets a big kick out of it.

First Boil Underway

The first boil is underway.  My daughter came out to help keep the foaming under control. I won't have enough to draw any off but the pans sweetened and I will be able to draw syrup after the next run.  I will have to add a cupola to the sugar shack next year.  the steam was a little thick in there.  I did add a 24 inch box fan but it was not enough.

Tapping and Fixing with my Daughter

Today my daughter and I went out to fix the one line that was down. We also put in an additional 15 taps. These were all on tree we plan on cutting in the spring (Cull trees).  They are to close to the trees I plan on keeping or in poor health; are broken at the top or have been damaged by these darn grape vine that are everywhere in the woods.  I show my daughter how we used to tap trees with a brace and a bit.  She was able to tap two trees before she wanted to switch back to the cordless drill.

Collected first sap

We just got 18" of fresh heavy and packy snow yesterday and today.  It reminds me of the snow you would get in late march. Just got back in from collecting the first batch of sap. I started at 5. took 3 hours, mind you, it is only a 1000 feet from the sugar house. I got the wheeler stuck, then the tractor, then I had to carry the chains, come-a-longs and shovel back to the woods. I knew I should have left the winch on the tractor. Once I got into the woods, the new section I tap was all knocked down by limbs and heavy snow. Did the best I could to clean it up in the moon light. Actually that was the most relaxing part. I will have to re-level (slope) it tomorrow. It only ran about 5-10 gallons on 24 tap there where as the other section has 45 taps and there was 45 gallons. I brought those 45 gallons back to the SH. and loaded into the head tank. The 5 gallon jugs i did not empty, I'll check them in the morning. The tractor went through the snow with no problems, well a lot better anyways when it had the extra ~400 pounds of sap on the back. Decided not to start the evaporator tonight and wait 'till tomorrow.

Ready and Waiting

I pickup my syrup pans from the welder last week. No leaks could be found anywhere.  Saturday and Sunday I spent time in the sugar house pluming the pans and the head tank. All the pans and tanks have been washed. They are all ready for the first boil. 

I looked at the upcoming weather and decided to tap this afternoon. I ended up with 73 taps and have not tapped the trees I plan on culling next year yet. I only planned on 50 taps for this year and I will be close to 90 when I'm done. I might have some long nights.

More Work Done this Weekend

I added another 30 tap on Saturday,  I was short 6 tees and about 100 feet of tubing to finish the job.  I only have a few stragglers that need to be after this set. Mostly trees I plan on culling next year.  I might just use my old 7/16 taps on those.  Sunday I built a sap tower to hold the 55 gallon head tank and spent the rest of the time figuring out how to plum it. More pluming supplies needed. I took Monday off to get caught up on things.  I started working on the tractor to convert it over to 12 volts to run the sap pump.  I spent more time on the road getting parts than I did rewiring everything.  The tractor has a new 12 volt 60amp alternator to run the sap pump and 3 55 watt driving lights. You know, the lights are need to track down my wild maple trees at night, they are tough to spot compared to the domesticated maples that most people tap...  It all works with the exception of missing one relay for the lights. I also stop by my welder to have him touch up some pin hole that I could not get with my mig welder (the same work I paid him fix a few weeks ago and I got them back with the same pin holes), and he blew me off, told me he was out of ss rod and take the pans somewhere else. The owner is on vacation this week so, I'm not sure what is going on, but I did take the pans to another machine shop (C&C).