gallons per tap

[bison1973]

I FINALLY sat down and calculated what we did as far as gallons per tap and it came out to an astounding .98 gallons per tap for me!

I'll probably never see that again for a long, long time.

[tuckermtn]

impressive numbers for sure. Hopefully makes up for last year!

- nice website also...

-Eric

[CBOYER]

Very nice to see syrup pour thru galvanised elbow...:o

[bison1973]

man, if you read the website it says the pics are pretty old from 2009... all that's been updated I just need to change the website pics.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Don't mind CBoyer. He is always griping about something.

[tuckermtn]

I glad someone else picked up on the negative tone of cboyer's post. I himmed and hawed about whether to reply or not, but it just kept bugging me.

one of the reasons I enjoy being a part of the Trader community is that folks are generally supportive and constructive in their replies. Are we all perfect, I don't think so. I know I certainly am not.

I realize I may get flamed for speaking out, but I felt I needed to say something...

I stand by my original comments in this thread- nice job Tim with getting close to 1 gpt.

[Randy Brutkoski]

A lot of his post are negative. He thinks every sugarmaker should make syrup the Canadian way, what ever that means. Nothing against you guys to the north. just sayin

[CBOYER]

very funny to see how you respect your customers: please continue to try poison them.
every comments i made on this forum are based on the only good way to make a quality food grade product. 2009 is not so far, it is 4 years ago!
Why put all this work to make a good product, and save $5 on the last fitting ?
You make a nice website, but send a bad information to customers. This is'nt only bad for you, it is bad for all maple producers.
And yes, we up north make things right, for the best of the industry.

[spud]

I don't care if you draw off with a galvanized elbow it's that .98 GPT that blows me away. Way to go bison1973.

Spud

[Randy Brutkoski]

I 2nd that spud. That is almost unheard of.

[PerryFamily]

Nice job, outstanding.

Ironic a producer who most likely is using galvanized buckets (???) is worried about a galvanized elbow.

Anyway, excellent job. Any secrets you can let us in on?

[CBOYER]

Nice job, outstanding.

Ironic a producer who most likely is using galvanized buckets (???) is worried about a galvanized elbow.

Anyway, excellent job. Any secrets you can let us in on?

Mr Perry, or mr Ironic, please read what i had write on another thread:

for buckets: look at the reccomended standards for maple equipment, made in 2002..
GALVANIZED FOR GATHERING SAP IS NOT RECOMMENDED... these standard were made more than 10 years ago, please stop using galvanized buckets: sap is acidic, and if you collect sap that start attack galvanized, you concentrate those "heavy" metals in your syrup.
http://www.internationalmaplesyrupin..._equipment.pdf

It will be a good thing that you start educating yourself to use reccomended material to make food, not motor oil !

[Randy Brutkoski]

I want to see some pictures of your sugarhouse so we can all nit pick your stuff. Maybe you are the only perfect sugarmaker out there but I doubt it.

[PerryFamily]

First off I apologize for this thread turning into a pissing contest about a galvanized elbow. I always seem to get sucked into it. Bottom line is I am sure that galvanized elbow has no effect on the quality of his syrup. To suggest that he is poisoning people is absurd .
This site is to be informative and support producers to make the best product possible not not
pick someone's equipment. In general I feel you can learn something from any size producer from and would love to hear some tips on how that success was achieved.
As far as motor oil, no idea where that came from, must be lost in the translation.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

v
up north make things right, for the best of the industry.
cough arrogant cough cough, and I suppose you have done everything since the beginning of your maple production all with approved food grade equipment, csa approved, blah blah blah


FDA
4-101.15 Galvanized Metal, Use Limitation.
Galvanized metal may not be used for utensils or food-contact surfaces of equipment that are used in contact with acidic food
if syrup is acidic then we are not allowed to use it

according to a site I found Maple Syrup has PH level of "5.15"

The moisture content of maple syrup ranged from 26.5 to 39.4%. The pH and (degrees)Brix values for maple syrup ranged from 5.6 to 7.9, and 62.2 to 74.0.

here's some more numbers
6.75-7.25 (about neutral)

more numbers
Maple Syrup is listed as being Moderately Acid Forming Foods with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5.

[CBOYER]

take a look on this: http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?20564-Galvinized-buckets-illigal&p=222633#post222633

They probably ban Galvanized barrel because it is good ???
and the source is someone that know how to make syrup in USA...:cool:

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

now we are talking to different issues,
1. long term storage, could be a week or two to several months or years
2. minimal contact, the syrup might have contact with the surface in question .5 second maybe

OK DOC what is the PH level of syrup that you have had experience with.

[bison1973]

Thanks to all. Anyway the pics have been updated... that "nasty" galv elbow (which was gone a few years ago) is no longer in the pics.

Anyway, I attribute the .98 gals per tap to a few things. For one it was a HUGE season here in WI. And, in my opionin, right here in the center of WI may have been the epicenter of it all. (but oddly enough i have a neighbor directly across the road who had gravity tubing who got only .2 gals per tap) But I do have a pretty dense maple and compact sugarbush. I ran about 21-23 hg at the releaser. I was always checking for leaks and try to maintain the system as best as I can. I made my tubing system without ever seeing another on in place. Believe it or not here in central Wi tubing let anlone VAC are still not common. Now local people are statring to do it mainly becaise of seeing and hearing what i did i think. I'm an unpaid salesman for tubing to the maple dealers :) I want to update [parts of the systme for next season...

[DrTimPerkins]

OK DOC what is the PH level of syrup that you have had experience with.

This seems to be quite an aside to this thread, however the typical range of SYRUP pH is 5.5-8.0, with a mean of 6-7. Sap pH can be even more variable.

[PerryFamily]

Another example of the saying " you make your money in the woods"
Or something like that.

[regor0]

:lol::lol:I was just reading this post an agreeing with everybody we should use stainless everything when possible.
When......my girls said they were "STARVING". So I go to the pantry and grab a can of mandarin oranges, I opened the can, dump out the oranges. What do I see GALVANIZED on the inside of the can.:o I don't know? I still use stainless when I can. Congratulations on your production! I love to have half that.

[BreezyHill]

Wow you guys have all made a great point!
No matter how hard we all do to make a great safe product, we all have to be very careful in every aspect of production and advertising. In todays world bad news travels super sonic plus.
1. Thanks for correcting the pics..great job!
2. Thanks for noticing the pics
It would be nice if we could try to be a little more civil with our fellow producers. We always should have each others backs.... to protect ourselves.
Next time how about:" hey....noticed ....may want to change that.
In our county 4-H program we are always having to deal with peeta or animal rights people at the fair. So lets not fuel the fire that could burn ourselves.

Thanks!
Ben

[halfast tapper]

very funny to see how you respect your customers: please continue to try poison them.
every comments i made on this forum are based on the only good way to make a quality food grade product. 2009 is not so far, it is 4 years ago!
Why put all this work to make a good product, and save $5 on the last fitting ?
You make a nice website, but send a bad information to customers. This is'nt only bad for you, it is bad for all maple producers.
And yes, we up north make things right, for the best of the industry.

If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say it at all. He is not going to kill anyone with that 1 elbow, and furter more if you look at the gallery pics he has got stainless there now. Do you have well water at your house? Go look around your house and I will bet you have more galvanized fittings in your water supply. I don't be so high on your horse for being canadian it wasn't that long ago that the candian maple industry still used formaldahyde pellets. I am sure your so perfect that you never have done anything wrong so why don't you go a make your own website and stay there!:evil:

[spud]

Looks like round two is starting. :lol:

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

They probably ban Galvanized barrel because it is good

The Vermont maple industry has been moving towards SS, plastic, or one-use barrels for quite a long time (galvanized barrels not allowed since January 2012). At this point, galvanized barrels are no longer allowed for syrup storage in Vermont. For NOFA certified organic syrup, neither galvanized barrels or tanks, or lead-soldered evaporators are allowed. Galvanized buckets are only allowed by NOFA if the producer submits annual results of lead testing.

That said....one galvanized elbow is not a huge problem. Replace it when you get a chance, but it isn't an immediate health hazard.