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This thread is really cool. Kudos to everyone spending the time to document your syruping activities, it's a really enjoyable, educational read. I bet you guys have awesome maple syrup recipes. My wife is a hobbyist cake-maler and she found an apple-maple upside down cake recipe that is excellent.
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Mar 12, 2021 14:32
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Get a container of oat milk and pour it in a pot. Dump the same weight of oats into the pot. If the oat milk weighed 250g, put 250g of oats in the pot. If it weighed 1kg, put 1kg of oats in. Then put in 1/4 the weight of either ingredient (1/8 the total mass) of maple syrup. However much volume of maple syrup you put in, put in the same volume of cocoa powder. So if you needed 500ml of maple syrup, put in 500ml of cocoa powder. Equal masses of oats, 1/4 that much maple syrup, as much cocoa powder as maple syrup. Boil until it looks like oatmeal and then put it in the fridge. You can put it in the freezer but it goes rock solid when I do it so I recommend putting it in the fridge. The dairy lobby will sue you for selling it as ice cream, but it's vegan ice cream. 
DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Mar 14, 2021 |
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Mar 13, 2021 03:25
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well, the weather looks perfect over tues-fri, so either I get some good runs, or the season is garbage! Can't control nature. I've gotten used to being high on my own supply, though; I'm gonna end up paying for fancier-than-grocery poo poo if I can't at least cover our own needs this year. COME ON, MAMMON, I HAVE SACRIFICED THE SACRED BARK AND LAY PROSTRATE BEFORE YOU. SHOWER ME IN MAPLE SAP
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Mar 14, 2021 22:19
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I got a run. In fact I have at least 6 gallons so I'm doing a batch. First of the season! Question for you guys with RO units. Do you leave them running overnight when it goes below freezing? Surely nobody heats theirs. I'd hate to burst a pipe. 
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Mar 14, 2021 22:46
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DreadLlama posted:I got a run. In fact I have at least 6 gallons so I'm doing a batch. First of the season! The hoses i have for ro are tiny, no real ice problems. I have had blockages before though.
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Mar 16, 2021 21:59
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I am still getting poo poo for flow, but I talked to a guy down the hill with 13k taps on vacuum and he told me he thinks the ground is just super loving hard still, the stuff he's pulled with vacuum is only 1.4%, and basically, "weird year but be patient, it's coming"
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Mar 17, 2021 18:47
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  trees go brrrr. About 60-70 gallons through, looks like. Tomorrow is cold and we go into a relatively hard freeze, then looks like 3/4 days of flip flop and sun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCS86ovyLI8
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Mar 18, 2021 20:15
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We've had some substantial runs the last few days. Time to gather again this morning. The sap trailer:  Already running pretty good by mid-morning:  I was a little late to the second tank:  Check out the vacuum. We didn't expect too much from this little diaphragm pump, but once the lines got tightened up it's worked really well. Only catch is it has to be brought in if weather is below freezing, otherwise it damages the rubber diaphragms. 
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Mar 22, 2021 18:02
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Wow. That is an incredible setup. Has your family been doing that for a few generations? Edit: PSA: Did you know that Shurflo pumps have a phillips head screw at the end of the pump head that you can adjust to increase the shut off pressure from 45psi all the way up to 75? You can! But doing so in no way increases your pumps ability to cool itself. Not one bit. DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Mar 23, 2021 |
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Mar 22, 2021 21:04
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Double posting because jar.
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Mar 23, 2021 17:15
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DreadLlama posted:Wow. That is an incredible setup. Has your family been doing that for a few generations? No, nothing nearly so romantic. Where I work does some maple in addition to the dairy, and while I mostly do cow and barn stuff I've done a fair amount of woods work this spring. I want to say we have about 1200 taps, which is respectable for the local area, but certainly nothing compared to some of the operations further north. It had been a few years before this season since I'd done any maple, and it's been really enjoyable to get out in the woods again. Doubly so now that there's not two feet of snow on the ground to flounder through.
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Mar 23, 2021 19:14
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Uncle Lloyd posted:[sweet setup] Very nice! I've been thinking about getting one of those little guzzlers, though a $1500 pump seems like overkill for 115 taps, probably a slippery slope to ending up with 2-300 taps.  Finished off a gallon and a half a week ago and another 1.3 gals today, seems like it's finally opening up for real. Also my wife's due date was, uh, 3/29 so  whatever happens happens, very much expecting to turn my valve open and head to the hospital any day. 
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Mar 31, 2021 03:10
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Finished about 25L this year, 3 boiling days. Weird sap run but it was nice being able to boil on actual nice days. Three out of three just finished the batches on the pan, getting pretty good at that as long as there's 2 gallons of syrup in there. Next year, I need to put a float pan on the side with a float valve, boiling efficiency would be better but I run the sap level about an inch deep so I only have to check wood and refill pre-header pan every half hour and can walk away. 
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Mar 31, 2021 16:34
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Postess with the Mostest posted:Finished about 25L this year, 3 boiling days. Weird sap run but it was nice being able to boil on actual nice days. Three out of three just finished the batches on the pan, getting pretty good at that as long as there's 2 gallons of syrup in there. Next year, I need to put a float pan on the side with a float valve, boiling efficiency would be better but I run the sap level about an inch deep so I only have to check wood and refill pre-header pan every half hour and can walk away. Looking good! I think I might approach or exceed that level of production for the year if I wasn't about to gently caress off into new parent land for the foreseeable. How many taps do you have again? I'm up to 115, but, a lot of younger trees. On a good day I can get 70-80gals through.
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Mar 31, 2021 18:38
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Cabbages and Kings posted:Very nice! I've been thinking about getting one of those little guzzlers, though a $1500 pump seems like overkill for 115 taps, probably a slippery slope to ending up with 2-300 taps. Yeah we have like 5-600ish I want to say on those lines. Had some good runs the last few days; still going albeit the quality is starting to decline and sugar content seems to be lacking. Been kind of a mediocre season, from what I hear most folks are just a little over half of the normal production. Looks like it'll run again this weekend and into next week, but kinda thinking that'll probably be about all. 
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Apr 2, 2021 03:04
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We're back into relatively hard freeze with more freeze/thaw coming up. I think when it warms tomorrow it will have been under freezing for around 36hrs, bottoming out at 16F. I'm still not expecting a good season, but as far as expecting, our second kiddo showed up today which is basically perfect timing to not gently caress with our sap runs, so that's some real Vermonter blood that I'll never have personally. (I'm not being a terrible parent posting from the maternity ward, I swear, I am back home with our existing kid for the night, before we all get reunited tomorrow). We got an auspicious dump of, I dunno, 5" of snow that made driving to the hospital at 2 AM extra fun. I am loving brain fried, dead on my feat, dealing with an irrational 4 year old, and expecting tomorrow to just be opening the door to a new chapter of insanity, but the sap will flow. The calendar makes me think I'll be yanking my taps after this week, though. I have a bunch of paternity leave; our older kid is gonna learn the joys of pulling taps and marking bark.
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Apr 2, 2021 22:48
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Congrats on the future sap hauler! I had about 75 taps this year. The early season was terrible but we had a couple of gushers at the end where some trees were giving up 2-3 gallons a day, was just collecting straight into the pan. I pulled my taps, all done now.
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Apr 3, 2021 01:14
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Well, we're flowing again for sure, 40-50 gals yesterday. I had to pick up a 20lb propane tank and adapter because everywhere is sold out of coleman cylinders, but over time this is going to be a lot cheaper anyway. I'm going to finish a batch today and see what happens; I expect to be pulling my taps next weekend, but maybe I'll at least hit 50% of 2020s total? Lol
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Apr 5, 2021 16:33
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 5.6gal from around 300gals sap, so, just about 1/2 last years' total, and that's with 7 additional taps this year. I'm probably going to see what happens over the next year or so before I think about adding vacuum; also, my neighbor told me to go tap crazy on his side of the line if I want, so I might experiment with running some 3/16"s lines down to a second reservoir next year. If I can hit another 30-50 trees on that side it's worth it; less and it probably isn't because it would need to go to a second tank and I'd probably be looking at moving that over to the shack with my trailer, so it would only be useful to catch big runs. It would be nice to just pipe it into the same mainline that goes the rest of the way, but it's hard to find a line to do that which doesn't obstruct the driveway.... Also I am not unhappy with this outcome. I am happy to have had a healthy kid and somehow still managed to make enough syrup for us (3.5gal/year) plus a little.
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Apr 12, 2021 00:18
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Are these seeds?   edit: they were not. DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Jun 23, 2021 |
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May 23, 2021 18:30
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 It's that time of year again...actually it feels more like the kind of weather to pull spouts in, but we're taking advantage of the lack of snow and warm temperatures to clean up the lines so we don't have to do it at the same time as we tap.
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Dec 14, 2021 05:53
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I saw a lady with a drill in the woods on my way home from skiing yesterday. Tis the season, better go get 120 valved taps.
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Jan 31, 2022 19:18
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 Using unvalved taps this year because it's all CDL sells, probably fine! Finally happy with my tool belt setup, I was able to do around 30 taps yesterday with the smaller child on my back, and on snowshoes: I never have to set anything down in the snow. Baby was sort of annoyed any time I'd have to lean way over to duck a line, other than that she seemed bemused but there was a distinct lack of screaming or unhappiness, so I'll take it. I think I am at 57 of 115 tapped; weather makes it look possible we'll get a run next weekend, though there's still a shitton of snow down so it's hard to say. Also, we had another lovely dry winter so I'm not going to be surprised if yields are bad again this year, but, if they are generally so, wow is it gonna gently caress consumer prices!!
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Feb 13, 2022 13:33
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-25c here today, long range looks like no boiling till March which is fine. Things I'm definitely going to do before the season: - Put together a little RO system - Make another 40 drop tubes/20 buckets to get up to 150 taps total - Sled the evaporator over to the garage. I got a welder finally so I can seal it up a little better. Real door? Maybe, if they're on sale - Turn by preheater pan into a sunken float pan and attach a float valve to that
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Feb 13, 2022 22:22
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Oh Oh I've done that! Amazon sells a 100% stainless float valve https://www.amazon.ca/Homyl-Stainless-Ball-Cock-Aquarium-Cistern/dp/B07F9S3QSH It's got 1/2" NPT fittings on it so if your RO system has 1/2" female threads on the output (https://www.amazon.ca/Eastman-48018-Kitchen-Lavatory-Connector/dp/B00838JHPK) you can just plug your RO output directly in. In practice (in my case) the RO output is slower than the rate of boil off so the float valve never actually does anything. But it could! If you want to get really fancy get a flow rate meter for both the rinsate and the permeate. I've read that you want to get the flow rates as equal as possible. In my case I needed the flowmeters that go all the way down to 0.2LPM (https://www.amazon.ca/Homyl-Thread-0-05-0-5GPM-0-2-2LPM-Flowmeter/dp/B07HSYHWW6). I don't know why someone thought a flowmeter for under 2LPM needed to have 1 inch fittings on it but that's what they have. By the way; Anyone have success with electronic flow meters and motorized flow control valves? It seems to me that someone should have figured out a way to make an arduino balance flow rates. Also if you don't know what pump to buy may I suggest an aquatec 8800 series? https://www.cwwltd.com/8850-2j03-b544-aquatec-8800-high-flow-booster-pump-cdp-hfo-3-8jg-110bp-12v-dc-metal-plate/ They make them that run on 12V DC which is really convenient if your electricity situation consists of a solar panel and a car battery.
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Feb 14, 2022 01:45
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That is so helpful and timely, I was just looking for that exact pump but it wasn't on amazon so I was stuck, it's on its way. I know less than nothing about the RO stuff but I thought I saw someone mention that they attach logic to the PSI to keep it around a certain number and that would take care of the flow rates.
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Feb 14, 2022 06:32
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It's a great pump. But it has no priming ability - weak suction. It works if the sap bucket is on the bench level with the pump but does not work if the sap bucket is on the ground below the pump. Speaking of pressure controlling logic, the pump is not a demand pump and doesn't have any sensors to tell it to turn off. So you need a https://www.cwwltd.com/psw380-00-aquatec-pressure-switch-80-psi-3-8-jg/ pressure switch. This one is 3/8" push to connect fittings just like the pump. Edit: I should also point out that there's now "hobby reverse osmosis" https://webstore.cdlinc.ca/en/hobby-reverse-osmosis but you have to pay CDL prices for it. DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Feb 14, 2022 |
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Feb 14, 2022 14:50
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 rough end to the ski season, probably, definitely the beginning of the end -- but maybe a couple sap runs? Hard to say if today's gray rainy 45F weather will move sap through the ~1-2 feet of snow and ice pack but we'll see, I hooked everything up.
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Feb 17, 2022 14:15
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 I keep saying I am done with lines, and yet I set up lines and made t's for 40 more taps. These are sketchy as hell, they are on the wrong side of the driveway, so they are going to run to 27gal plastic bins, which I am then going to have to use free 5/16" line to loving siphon down into the mainline, ha. But, when my neighbor told me to go tap crazy on his side of the line -- I looked, and, every one of the trees I am hitting with this is loving big. 12" minimum but many are substantially bigger and can support 2-3 taps, and none of this poo poo has ever been tapped. So far, minimal runs and what's down there is frozen, but we really only had one warm day and then it plunged to almost 0F. Next week appears to get into significant freeze/thaw starting with a substantial thaw Sunday, so, fingers crossed.... still much snow on the ground. I noticed that the person up the road from me who I sort of use as a guide, tapped everything in between Saturday and Monday, so they are probably also expecting juice to start flowing soon.
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Mar 3, 2022 15:29
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I've finally decided to tap my giant silver maple in my yard after talking about it for 2.5 years. It's nearly 5' in diameter, so putting in three taps. Looks like it's going to be perfect weather this weekend into next week for the run. Got some plastic spiles, and foodsafe tubing and a couple 5 gallon buckets w/ lids. Big issue is going to be how to store the sap before I boil... assuming not too much of the snow melts this week, I hope I can just put it behind my shed where it's perpetually shady and just pile up a bunch of snow around them? Just dump the tap buckets daily into a couple other buckets, since the ones on the tree are in direct sunlight. Will probably only get a quart of syrup if it works, but mostly doing it just for fun to see if I can, and prep for the impeding apocalypse knowing I can still supply myself with some sort of sugar.
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Mar 4, 2022 22:32
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65 taps in today, legs are jello
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Mar 6, 2022 02:35
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DrBouvenstein posted:Big issue is going to be how to store the sap before I boil... assuming not too much of the snow melts this week, I hope I can just put it behind my shed where it's perpetually shady and just pile up a bunch of snow around them? Just dump the tap buckets daily into a couple other buckets, since the ones on the tree are in direct sunlight. if you can keep the buckets surrounded in snow you'll be good for a few days at least. Postess with the Mostest posted:65 taps in today, legs are jello      I replaced my piece of poo poo chimney with all new parts; rehabbing the arch with new metal and fireproofing is definitely in the cards for next summer. I did another 3 lines for 45 taps total, but they are on the wrong side of the driveway so I'm going into these polypropylene bins and then I can use a siphon to move it into my mainline. We're going into heavy freeze/thaw this week, so, if stuff is gonna happen I am hoping it starts soon; I have basically accepted that skiing is over, though if I can sneak in a couple more easy days with kiddo I will.
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Mar 7, 2022 21:02
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Cabbages and Kings posted:if you can keep the buckets surrounded in snow you'll be good for a few days at least. Well literally the day after it rained and was really warm here, and has been since, so every bit of snow has entirely melted. BUT, this tree and its three taps has given me very little, so I've been able to keep it in a large 8-quart lexan container in my fridge for now, it's not even half full yet. I think I didn't drill the holes deep enough, I see now I am an idiot and the spiles CLEARLY have a "stop" built into them and I am like 1" away from that stop being pushed up against the bark; so I think I should remove them and drill another inch or so deeper and put them back in. But if that works and it starts flowing at the rate I feel it should...then I'm going to have to try and make more room in the fridge with a second 8-qt container, and then I guess start boiling before the sap run is finished if I have to? Edit: yup, a combo of drilling that extra inch and/or the weather has a lot more sap a running. The 8 qt container is full but there's still at least another gallon out there in the buckets, but it's cold tonight so I'll leave it there to freeze off the water so it's less to boil later while I think how I can store it... DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Mar 10, 2022 |
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Mar 8, 2022 20:56
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60?? gallons? something like that. I boiled around half of it. Still trickling through out there but it's going to freeze tomorrow sand dump snow, I may not boil again until Monday. siphon tech working out well. I put a webcam durn there today, makes life easier
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Mar 12, 2022 03:15
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Was above zero but didn't get much this week, maybe like 5 gallons total. Hopefully this warmup kicks everything off. Will do 20 more taps this weekend and hopefully first boil next weekend.
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Mar 12, 2022 04:09
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Postess with the Mostest posted:Was above zero but didn't get much this week, maybe like 5 gallons total. Hopefully this warmup kicks everything off. Will do 20 more taps this weekend and hopefully first boil next weekend. poo poo just started popping off here in the past couple days, i'm at about 80gals boiled off of ~150 taps.   This little guy gets me internet down in the shack (he's a linkys extender wrapped up in plastic). He looks cute from afar but he has a mean side!!  Cold today and my siphon line kept freezing so I ended up just moving 25gals via sled. Couple hundred pounds, I guess, pretty good. https://i.imgur.com/LesusbC.mp4 Snow ith falling and the sap ith boiling. We are back into hard freeze until Monday, trying to take kiddo skiing tomorrow and maybe boil again tuesday? I might put another 20-40 taps in tomorrow, too, I'm crazy like that. Still have one more 27gal bin, what else am I doing with it? Next boil will probably start with finishing off a small batch since I'm floating, probably, around a gallon and a half of syrup in my pans at this point.  I have a proper webcam down there this year so I can keep track of my boil and back yard and weed shack all from the lazy comfort of my office. Still no automated ways of doing anything from the house, but just seeing that things aren't actually on fire or overboiling is reassurring. Still have to hoof up and down every 45-60 to re-up the wood and sap, I'll probably try to work from down there a couple days this week if we get substantial runs. Edit: I had bought a cheap rear end 12" chinese boro glass bong to be a sugarhouse bong and I broke the fucker the second I got it inside the shack, backpack rolled off a chair, crash, so there's $50 down. I decided the 18" chinese boro house bong is now the sugarhouse bong, though having something that big down there feels kind of silly and I am pretty sure I'll break it before the season is over 
Cabbages and Kings fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Mar 13, 2022 |
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Mar 13, 2022 08:07
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We are slowly coming out of freeze, but the forecast makes it look like no more freezes for the week after that, so, that's probably not very good. Of course, the forecast looked totally different 2 days ago, so, I'll just keep checking my buckets and check it again in 2 days.
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Mar 15, 2022 15:26
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Well, ruined both 5 gallons of sap AND the pot I was using the other day. Ws keeping a good eye on the boil, was only planning to get it down to maybe 1/2-1 gallons and mix it with the other batch I reduced down, and then later cook them down further. But got distracted and forgot about it and I got burnt, maple sludge. I'm mostly upset about the pot, it was my big, 6-gallon beer brew pot. I've tried to scrub and scrub, I tried boiling water in it with baking soda...even used my Powdered Brew Wash in there, but there's a solid layer of black, burnt crud that would take too much work to remove. Maybe I'll repurpose it into an ugly planter. Going to stop at the restaurant supply place on my way home and get a hotel pan to use. Sucks to lose 5 gallons of sap (by my math...between 1 and 2 cups of syrup.) But yesterday was a big day, got about 6 gallons, and I imagine I'll get a good amount today and tomorrow.
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Mar 16, 2022 21:02
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Sorry for your loss. I too have turned a turkey fryer pot into a flower pot by overboiling maple syrup in it. Now I use a wireless thermometer with an alarm set at 220°F. If it goes off I come running. Speaking of mistakes; I've discovered that you need to change your RO membranes at least once a year. In fact, according to this manual you're even supposed to clean them. Every day. Also check out this crazy flow diagram for the recirculation model. I want to copy this so bad. 
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Mar 17, 2022 00:55
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 22:41 |
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DrBouvenstein posted:Well, ruined both 5 gallons of sap AND the pot I was using the other day. Ws keeping a good eye on the boil, was only planning to get it down to maybe 1/2-1 gallons and mix it with the other batch I reduced down, and then later cook them down further. Let it soak in vinegar a day or two, usually does the trick. I ordered the baby RO from CDL a month ago to ship to store, they said it was in stock, no movement yet so I guess I'm just boiling regular sap this weekend like a non-ro schlub. It was finally pounding here today, every tree was just drip drip drip
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Mar 17, 2022 01:46
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