do you use your equipment for anything other than syrup?

[kboyer]

I was wondering if anyone uses their equipment for anything other than just syrup production. My wife and I are building a sugar shack this summer and have ordered our equipment, which should come this fall, but we keep wondering what else we can use it for. We are thinking of making apple cider in the fall and thought that a canning unit would be perfect to pasteurize cider and bottling it. I am trying to figure out ways of using the building to generate additional dollars. We are also going to add some bee hives next year and creep our way into some honey production.

[red maples]

I also added 2 bees hives tis year but its kind of a whole other set of of equipment for honey...can't use the canner to bottle the honey too thick. need a honey gate in a 5 gallon bucket and your all set. but the sugarhouse will be used for honey extraction etc.

I have heard of some folks using finishing pans for jellies and jams, which makes sence, and I think there was one used for a lobster cookout in the sugarhouse in NH last year or the year before.

[500592]

I to added two beehives but I have no sugar shack... Yet

[maple maniac65]

I think you have to be careful with the apple cider there is alot of acid invovled there. it will pit the stainless in time. If that is going to be the onlu use then it maybe okay. Switching back and forth between cider and maple could lead to a problem. I had a person that wanted to use my evaporator to male apple syrup. I declined. They did not want to buy one to use, reason was they cosdt too much to replaced the pans. Even on a welded pan. Maple equipment was designed to make maple syrup and it does well with what it was intended to do.

[Ausable]

I was wondering if anyone uses their equipment for anything other than just syrup production. My wife and I are building a sugar shack this summer and have ordered our equipment, which should come this fall, but we keep wondering what else we can use it for. We are thinking of making apple cider in the fall and thought that a canning unit would be perfect to pasteurize cider and bottling it. I am trying to figure out ways of using the building to generate additional dollars. We are also going to add some bee hives next year and creep our way into some honey production.

Well -- LOL -- If You put a hood over the evaporator that would catch all the steam and run it through a coil and condense it to a liquid - Ya could boil a batch of corn mash and have a little pot still Ethyl Alcohol Plant. But - sometimes we can get a little to clever and end up in jail. Stick with the apple cider idea and No Hard Cider mind ya --- LOL Mike

[802maple]

As long as all of your equipment you are going to use is lead free, cider will make severe lead counts as it will leach out due to the high acidity.

[3rdgen.maple]

The apple cider boiling in the evaporator was what started the lead scare in the maple industry. Like 802 said if you have a lead soldered evaporator dont do it.

[maple flats]

I put a cover on the front pan and use it a work bench for working on my 4 wheeler which is parked right in front of it during the off season.
Nothing other than maple goes into the pans (except vinegar to clean it).

[Gary R]

Does anyone use a filter press to filter wine?

[DrTimPerkins]

Maple equipment was designed to make maple syrup and it does well with what it was intended to do.

That is EXACTLY the story. Most maple equipment even comes with tags saying something like this. If you use it for something else, it can cause problems or damage the equipment.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Speaking only of the filter press. We use the word incidental contact alot in what we do. Plus wine, cider and beer are filtered cold so I would think that and incidental contact would not be a problem for a filter press.

[40to1]

A lot of people have expressed surprise that I use my evaporator only for sugar making. So I explain to them that I only use the snow blower for clearing snow.

I think they get it...

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

A lot of people have expressed surprise that I use my evaporator only for sugar making. So I explain to them that I only use the snow blower for clearing snow.

I think they get it...

it moves leafs around the yard pretty dam good to:lol:

[brookledge]

I have always thought of using canning unit to boil seafood like lobster and steamers or corn etc. in the summer but never have. Boiling jumbo lobsters 7-10lbers you need a big pot
Keith

[farmer12071]

i have a homemade evaporator that i have a box that goes in place of my pan that i smoke meats in,works great.i also use the burners from my gas finisher as a camp stove,my pans are only used for syrup though.i use the sugar house to get away from the wife now andthen since it has elect and a tv.

[BryanEx]

So I explain to them that I only use the snow blower for clearing snow.
I tried the snowblower to spread top soil once... but only once. In "theory" it should work great. :rolleyes:

[Ausable]

Guess You all convinced me - can't use my little 2x5 to cook for a gang. I was going to bake apple cobblers in the sap pans and giant meat loafs in the syrup pans. Just cover the pans with the hood and shazam an oven. Guess the combination of meat loaf and cobbler would make the taste of the maple syrup a little too interesting. ------ Maybe -- if I get another rig for syrup making I'll try the cobbler - meat loaf thing ------ Hmmmmmmmm Pizza on a Snow Shovel --- looks wide enough and not made outta plastic --- see ya -- gotta get busy .....

[cjmiller272]

Our old family farm did sorghum syrup mostly with a little maple in the spring.

[twitch]

thinking of steaming lobsters and clams with it

[kboyer]

Thanks everyone, I just didn't know if there were any other possibilities out there worth exploring. I am always trying to think of new and different things to maximize income from our small acreage, and find cool stuff for the kids to get into. :)

[500592]

Hey maybe you could make a metal box that fit where the pans were so you could smoke some meat :D:D

[Ausable]

Hey maybe you could make a metal box that fit where the pans were so you could smoke some meat :D:D

Box Idea sounds good - Make it with a door and racks and could also be a large oven - Bake Pizza - Bread - Rolls - Cookies -- a few alterations It becomes a smoker..... Hmmmmm better have a seperate smoker and oven - a cake that smelled like smoked fish might not go over with the ladies -- Guys would probably like it though. Wow! The old Arch could have some uses other then sap boiling --- gotta give this more thought -- Would have to tame down the fire a bit for baking. ----------

[500592]

Hey if you could get one of those giant fast-food grill top the thick metal part you have one serious barbuque on a 2x6 let alone 4x12 or bigger

[Ausable]

Have a griddle now - that is 16"x22" and can do about 20 pan cakes at a time. a Griddle and Grill covering an Arch would be awesome. Two free Pan cakes with Maple Syrup on top for every Quart of Maple Syrup You buy - Just so You can sample the goodness of Maple Syrup and to thank You for Your business ----- Yep has all kinds of possibilities. I once said all an arch and pans can do is make steam and maple syrup - gotta think outside of the box or sugar Shack -- LOL

[500592]

How about using it to heat up flatlanders sap tank so he can get it in his jeep