Evaporator for 50-150 Taps

[Timberwolf]

2012 will be my second year of production and I now want to go from evaporting in a flat pan to a wood fired evaporator. I have looked some at what is available, Leader Half Pint etc., and I am having a difficult time finding what I think will fit my operation for today, 50-70 taps, and in the near future, 120-150 taps. Seems like something a tad larger than the Half Pint with a flue pan is what I really want.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?item=121&ret=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mapleguys.com%2Findex.php%3Fp age%3D1%26category%3D27

Look into this one, but there are others on that site as well. Remember, go big.

[Gary R]

There are other considerations. Buckets or vacuum, how much time you have and what your willing to spend. A 2X6 would probably do you well. Look into A&A evaporators. Deer Run Maple sells them. He is about 10+ miles east of Middlefield.

[On the ledge]

Take it from my experience you do not want a Half Pint ,I have just under 50 taps and it makes for long boils.

[maple flats]

I agree, over 50 on a half pint would require very long boils unless you have an RO. Buying an RO with so few taps would never pay for itself. I suggest a 2x6, new or used. The year I had a Half Pint I had 69 taps. When a good run hit I was boiling all nite and then I still had over 20 hrs sap boil time left ahead. I had to dump sap.

[Thiems sugarshack]

agreed go with a 2 by 6

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Yeah, I did 101 this season on a half pint...... OOps. even on a bad year with a warm winter I couldnt keep up most good run days. The day I got 100 gallons I had to boil for 3 afternoons and evenings to get caught up and then had new sap coming in ontop of that. Go big is all I can say. YOu might say 150 max and turn into 300.

[boondocker]

CDL makes a sweet little 20X66. It has a drop flue and a cross flow front, and it will do up to 250 taps.I saw one when i was picking up my new evaporator. very nice rig and priced right.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Go big is all I can say. YOu might say 150 max and turn into 300.

Listen to these guys and get the biggest size you can afford. I found a set of 2x8 pans and built the evaporator arund them, and this year going from 140 taps to shooting for 300. Keep looking around and you'll find something you can get. There are a couple of equipment dealers in our area and they might have a trade in.

[YAZER]

It also depends on the size of your sugar house.

[Dennis H.]

I have a 2x5' Lapierre raised flue. Out of the box it ran right around 25 gph.
I now have a hood and preheater and it runs about 28gph easily.

I personally would not base the size of evap on the number of taps but on how many gals of sap you expect to get per day.
Then use the gph for the evap to figure how many hours that you can spare to run the evap.

[wiam]

I personally would not base the size of evap on the number of taps but on how many gals of sap you expect to get per day.
Then use the gph for the evap to figure how many hours that you can spare to run the evap.

Bingo. We have the right answer.

[SevenCreeksSap]

I have a 2x5' Lapierre raised flue. Out of the box it ran right around 25 gph.
I now have a hood and preheater and it runs about 28gph easily.

I personally would not base the size of evap on the number of taps but on how many gals of sap you expect to get per day.
Then use the gph for the evap to figure how many hours that you can spare to run the evap.


I see your point but being somewhat of a newbie, and Op looks to be too, it looks like he's looking to have a starting point. I may be shooting for 300 taps but most of my trees are under 16 in diameter because the woods got logged. he may be dealing with a forest full of 30 inch trees so fewer trees and more sap. Snce he's new I'm going out on a limb and guessing he doesn't have years of records with his trees to know how much sap he's dealing with. In the few short seasons I've been involved two were crappy and one was great as far as sap runs.

Isn't it kind of a general rule to expect 1/2 to 1 gallon per day per tap, or did I just come up with that in a maple induced halucination after a long boil. It looks like he's like the rest of us and trying to make a best guess before spending big bucks on a rig that may be too small.

Another point may be about your hood and preheater. He might get by on a smaller rig with the extras.

[nymapleguy607]

If it were me I would go with a 2x6, base model usually give you around 25-30 GPH. If you expand you can add extras like a hood and preheater, also a blower if your burning wood, or oil if you want. Those will put you in the high 30's to low 40's for GPH. Dennis is right though, size the evaporator for the amount of sap you get in a day and the time you want to invest in boiling.

[Jeff E]

Again, agree with Dennis. Time is the issue.
With 150 average trees, you can have days of up to 200+ gallons of sap, all the way down to 0.
You need to plan for the big runs, unless you want to sell sap on those days.
You need to decide how often you can boil, and for how long.
If you can only boil 3 days a week, for 10 hrs a day, you would have to plan like this:
150 trees making 200 gallons per day, you could have 3 days of sap (600 gallons) to do in 10 hrs. You need to do 60 gph.
If you have a 2x6 that can do 35 gph, you finish the day with 250 gallons left. the next time you process in 2 days, you could be back up to 650 gallons. Now you cook all weekend, doing 2 10hr days, and you cook down 350 but 100 more comes in, and day 2 the same and you still have hundreds of gallons of sap sitting there.

Been there, done that. Sold the sap.
Think it through, decide what you want to do.

[Dennis H.]

Also plan on how your operation "MAY" grow in the coming years. Yes it will happen.

Bigger is better but and this is a big but. If you go to large at the beginning you will have to hold sap a few days to have enough to do a good boil. You really don't want to have only an hour of boil. The evap would just get to the point of running real go thn you would have to shut down.

I think a 2x6 would be a good starting point, and it would go nice with an RO if you grow bigger.

[bix]

i have a 2x8 made by a&a runs at 45 to 50 gal hr i have 200 taps out last year it was 150$ more than a 2x6

[maple flats]

The next part to realize is that a 2x6 is often paired with a RO, small- up to about 250 or 300 gph. With this and running sap to 8% you can get 4x the syrup/hr compared to most raw sap. On a super run day you can run a second pass and go to 12 or even 14% sweet for reduced boil times. I believe at least one on this site is doing in the 2000 tap range on their 2x6 by using an RO.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Go look online to the maple guys. They sell a Lapierre evap the mini pro I believe. It's like 2x4 with a little float system and flue pan.

[Timberwolf]

So how much do you have invested in your 2x8? Have you been happy with it.

[bix]

yes i love it i have roughly 2900 in it i have added a preheater for 300 from a&a

[Timberwolf]

Thanks to all for your input, it has been very helpful.

Does anyone have a voicemail number for Ray Gingerich of Deer Run Maple or one for A&A?

[Ed R]

Check the tapping ohio current thread He's having a consignment auction on sept. 15. Phone number is posted on auction post.