St Paddy’s day at the sugar bush

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hillbillyrkstr

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Jun 11, 2013
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Mess of syrup bottles & beer cans. It was a long day.

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The night shift playing cards to pass the time between pours.

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Shot of the sugar shack at night. Place was jamming Saturday night!

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Shot of the briskets cooking in the sv cooler.

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Some fuel for the boys. Yes it’s kirkland beer don’t judge me. We went through two 48 packs while boiling sap this day.

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Kurt pouring his first ever syrup.

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Some plastic bottles full.

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Some glass bottles full of the finished product.

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The sap boiling down.

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I took a little time off the flat top to eat myself.

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Grilling up reubens for the neighborhood on the flat top.

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Sliced up.

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Here’s the cooler set up for the sv.


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The corned beef all sealed up.





i hope everyone had a great st paddy’s day! I know we did and while some things are the same out here st paddy’s day is a little different. We’re in sap season so we all get together at the sugarbush to collect sap from the 200+ trees we tap, and boil it down.

I used the sv to cook 3 corned beef briskets for lunch. Total cook time was 64 hours, and the temp was 139 degrees.

We’re somewhere around 60-70 gallons of syrup bottles this year. Not bad for a bunch of guys all volunteering. Great community out this way.
 
Sorry this thread is more or less upside down. I’m still learning how to use the site since it’s been redesigned.
 
Sounds like a great group of guys!
The syrup & the Reuben's both look fantastic!
Nice job & congrats on making the carousel!!
Al
 
How do you determine when the sap is boiled down enough? By volume or viscosity or specific gravity?

Columbus used to have a bar called the Sugar Shack in the 70s.
 
Thanks Al.

Reubens were lights out! Sv is such a great way to do corned beef. And the syrup is always good. Just sap no additives. The group of guys or “neighborhood” as we call it are great as well. Everyone’s family here.
 
Blue,

Some of us use the hydrometer, but some of use can pretty much tell by the webbing of it when it drips of a ladle. I don’t mess with that science stuff and check sugar content but a few of my buddies swear by it.
 
Lmao Vol!!

I switch back and forth between bud light and Busch or Busch light most of the time. Few PBR 30’s here and there. But how can you pass up 48 beers for $22??? Lol. We drink them like water. Not tasting to much after the first 6-7 anyhow.

A few of us wanted to try it but we’re to scared to buy it cause if you don’t like one you still have 47 more to drink.

Finally was at a friends house a few weeks back and someone brought it so we tried it and thought it wasn’t all that bad. Kinda Busch Lighty. I expected it to be a lot more watered down like natty light.

And seeing as how I’ve conquered 30 packs before when I saw the 48 pack at Costco the first words that came out of my mouth were “challenge accepted”. Lol. Not sure I’ll ever be beat the 48pk in a day but I sure gave it a try this past weekend. Not ashamed at all to admit I lost that one.
 
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Idaho,

That’s been weekends for the last month. Lol. Lot of time put in. Wives and kids show up around 9am for breakfast and then the kids run around in the woods. By lunch it’s just the guys until 2,3,4 in the morning.

We get yelled at saying we’re just sitting around drinking beer and you know what don’t repeat this but the women and right. Lol! We just sit around and drink beer but ya can’t leave or the fire will go out, or the pans will burn. Have to pull a batches every hour or so. So out of every hour you have roughly 40 minutes or more to drink beer! It’s the life!
 
Dave,

2 trees will work for one family. What’s your ratio this year? We caluated it out a few weeks ago and we were roughly 40/1
 
Lmao Vol!!

I switch back and forth between bud light and Busch or Busch light most of the time. Few PBR 30’s here and there. But how can you pass up 48 beers for $22??? Lol. We drink them like water. Not tasting to much after the first 6-7 anyhow.

A few of us wanted to try it but we’re to scared to buy it cause if you don’t like one you still have 47 more to drink.

Finally was at a friends house a few weeks back and someone brought it so we tried it and thought it wasn’t all that bad. Kinda Busch Lighty. I expected it to be a lot more watered down like natty light.

And seeing as how I’ve conquered 30 packs before when I saw the 48 pack at Costco the first words that came out of my mouth were “challenge accepted”. Lol. Not sure I’ll ever be beat the 48pk in a day but I sure gave it a try this past weekend. Not ashamed at all to admit I lost that one.

That's hilarious! I thought the exact same thing when I first saw it. My wife said "don't buy that 48 pack if you don't like it you have 47 more to drink and for that price it cant be good"...I said to her "challenge accepted". Lol. I agree kinda busch lightish. I did a chuck roast smoke yesterday and not ashamed I had several PBR's and Natty lights during the process
 
I use to kill two 30's a week. But that was a 7 day week.
I always liked my Dentist Friend's summation, "Quantity over Quality".
But he always liked it when I brought MGD to the fire/cookout, over his White Boxed BEER.
I wasn't that particular, actually, as long as I could find the 4 Main ingredients on the box or can.
All it has to say is B-E-E-R.
Like women, it's ALL good.

Looks like a great time!
 
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Nice post!
What are those white ball things of seasoning on the corned beef? I've seen them in sausage before but don't know exactly what they are :)
 
Dave,

2 trees will work for one family. What’s your ratio this year? We caluated it out a few weeks ago and we were roughly 40/1
....

I made syrup the last 3 years... Not this year.. BUT... after reading all the stuff on return from evaporation, I am confused.. I have been getting 1 gallon for every 12-15 gallons of sap... I don't know if irrigating the trees makes a difference.. I apply about 70" of rain equivalence throughout the spring/summer... I'm in a gully of sorts with a fruit orchard "uphill" from my place.. My neighbor irrigates about 10,000 fruit trees... apples, pears, cherries.... there's a lot of ground water in the middle of this desert from irrigation... our rainfall is about 7-12" depending on the year.. Temps run 85-100 in the summer and 0-25 in the winter... No real snow melt... it mostly evaporates...
And the 4 trees were here when I moved in... Not sure what variety of maple they are.. I did plant 2 REAL sugar maple trees about 6 years ago... the 2 trees I'm tapping reached 10" diameter at waist high 3 years ago.. The other 2 trees are ready to tap this upcoming winter.... The trees I planted are about 4-5" now...

...Syrup from a year or 2 ago....
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...My 2 newer trees....
Sugar Maples 3-18 001.JPG ... Sugar Maples 3-18 002.JPG

.. 1 of the 2 trees I'm tapping... ..... 1 of the 2 trees ready to tap.....
Sugar Maples 3-18 003.JPG ... Sugar Maples 3-18 004.JPG

..The end trees are being tapped...
..The middle 2 will be tapped next winter...
..The extreme right is one of the new trees...
Sugar Maples 3-18 005.JPG

I had a BIG limb come out of my weeping willow... More clean up work...
 
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