Pictures of my maple syrup operation

[Rustyiron]

Very nice motown! My friends just added a RO to their operation last year and enjoyed the wood savings. The weather 'round here's been fair but I think this week it's not going below freezing at night for sap flow.
El Nino syrup?:laughing: Last year's "season" was a little over a week if IIRC.
Here in Maine they have "Maine Maple Sunday" and most of the producers have an open house while in operation. Pretty neat.MMPA - Maine Maple Sunday Map

 

[teejk]

With our "el Nino" winter I have to ask about this years sap production...

 

[Looking4new]

The darkest syrup I can buy in the stores up here is #1 Amber. (Thanks to over regulation by the goobermint). I Usually get 2 gallons of it and then reboil it down some more to the point that it is almost taffy.
Cold in a clear jar it looks like gear oil the way it sticks to the sides of the jar. Waaaayyyy better than what I can get in the store.
I call it #1 black

 

[motownbrowne]

Very nice motown! My friends just added a RO to their operation last year and enjoyed the wood savings. The weather 'round here's been fair but I think this week it's not going below freezing at night for sap flow.
El Nino syrup?:laughing: Last year's "season" was a little over a week if IIRC.
Here in Maine they have "Maine Maple Sunday" and most of the producers have an open house while in operation. Pretty neat.MMPA - Maine Maple Sunday Map

Yeah, most guys over 1000 taps or so consider running an RO. We don't even have power in the sugar bush, much less a heated room to set one up in. Personally my least favorite part of syruping is plumbing; there always seems to be too much of it already. That for me is reason enough not to consider one. But I'm a guy that likes cutting wood. We burn maybe 7 cords making syrup so it's not bad. I could see where if you needed to cut 25 cords to make syrup an RO would look pretty nice!

 

[IslandTractor]

I appreciate that RO setups require a complete shift in practices but I wonder what the economics would be for a small self contained RO setup. I'd think that an old RV camper would provide an insulated work space and that a generator could supply power. What are the relative efficiencies of wood fired evaporation compared with electric powered RO? Takes quite a lot of fuel to cut, split and transport seven cords of wood fuel even if "free". Wouldn't that amount of fuel be enough to operate an appropriately sized RO setup?

I'm all for the lovely tradition of sugaring as seen in VT but wonder when the economies associated with RO will reach down to the small producers like yourself.

 

[gsganzer]

Cool post! I only use pure maple syrup on my pancakes.:licking: (just bought some more yesterday) However, I buy the wife and kids the imitation stuff because they're not discriminating enough to appreciate the difference :laughing:

 

[motownbrowne]

RO systems have really come down in price over the last decade. Now you can even buy a gasoline powered model for under five grand. I think they are producers my size who are running ROs. For me, again, I hate plumbing and I love boiling, so it's an easy choice.

I cut all the wood on my property (well most of it anyway). The annual 2-stroke and diesel bill for firewood is pretty small. Under $200/ year I'm sure. Other than electricity or gas, ROs have ongoing costs also, membrane cleaner and replacement membranes namely, but also replacement parts, just like in all plumbing.

 

[k0ua]

Thanks for sharing this with us Moto.

 

[Billrog]

Nice set enjoyed the pics. and dialog.

 

[om21braz]

Another thank you for posting. Good to see folks still making things basically the way it was done years ago. Hope all of you have continued success - it's only real maple syrup and real butter for me. On pancakes or waffles - everything else is a distant second.