Looking For Answers

[WinnerCircle]

Hello. This is my first post been a big fan of the site so far. Figured I would finally get in here and introduce myself. I bought an old family farm back last year that my grandfather had sold away 30 years ago. It had past hands several times. The last own foreclosed and left it abandoned during the winter with no heat. So needless to say I ended up getting for a decent price but have had to put in a lot of work.

On to the maple side of things. My grandfather used to make upwards of 500 gallons of maple syrup many years ago (or so he says lol). I am looking to get back to this output. Last year we got in late never did maple syrup before so we started with 7 taps made around 6 gallons with a single pan. This year we decided to raise the bar quite a bit and managed to get 330 taps all with buckets and also my grandfather in law gave us his 200 lines somebody was using before. I purchased a 2X6 CDL raised flue wood evaporator. Needless to say we have been doing okay except that fact we got a late start on the wood.

Future plans I would like to get up to 5,000 taps within the next two years, but 2,500 back next year all with lines. What I am here for is advice on how to reach that goal not really when it comes to installing the lines but more so on the equipment to handle this amount of taps. I would like to sell our current evaporator and upgrade to something much bigger and more efficient. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. If somebody has a similar setup that handles 2,500 to 5,000 taps I would love to hear about it.

The main areas are:

Evaporator: type, cost, gph
R/O: needed? type, cost, etc
Pre-heating: most bigger evaporators come with hood


For now I will continue to look through the forums and soak up as much as I can. Have been reading books of course have the Maple Producers Manual. Just enjoying the season and this family adventure we have set out on. I basically look at this from two angles right now which is setting up and collecting sap then actually processing the sap and making maple syrup.

Best of luck to every one this season. We have reach 40 gallons so far have learned a lot, can't wait for next year already.

Tab Winner

[Atgreene]

Keep in mind, its not necessarily the quantity of taps, but the quality. You're better off with 1000 3% taps, than 3000 1% taps, unless you like to boil or buy a big ro. We only do 700 taps, and that is a record we set this year, but we don't tap any soft maples, and any sugar maples not producing 3% get culled to make room for young sweet trees. There's nothing wrong with tapping soft maples, but from a business standpoint, they tend to bud earlier and are less sweet. They make great frirewood and allow room for rock maples when they're gone. Don't get hung up on tap #'s, concentrate on quality.

[WinnerCircle]

Appreciate the response. It's funny you mention the quality that is definitely what we have noticed with the trees we have tapped. Of the 330 buckets we have on our property probably about 200 of them are big producers while the rest are definitely far from. We have made a list and marked the buckets as well as far as good producer and ones that aren't. Also keep a list for totals based on dates and sections. Our place is quite hilly with its own valleys. We have some that are really starting to run this week finally. Always need the firewood that is for sure. The SAP collection I think we can handle it is just the long hours of boiling that are starting to catch up. Like last night my brother in-law pulled an all nighter to get caught up. I think if we upgrade to a bigger evaporator we will be much better off. I would rather be done in 5 hours looking for more SAP then boiling all night to keep up with SAP. Thanks again for the comments you are exactly right quality over quantity.

[stewardsdairy]

That's a huge jump! I also tried to get big quick. This year I am running around 2000 taps on vacuum. I have a full time teaching job and I also coach track after school, so boiling time is at a premium. My current setup is a 3x10 leader revolution with raised max flue pans and a steam away. When I have good dry wood and am paying attention to detail it will boil at about 250 gallons per hour. This is my fourth year on this rig and was purchased new in 2012 for about $31,000. Biggest drawback with wood is I have to wait an hour after shutdown to be sure everything is safely cool and I can go home and rest easy. This year I added an RO. It is a leader extreme 2 and will really process sap quickly. I usually RO one pass and boil at 7-8%. The RO is the biggest time saving investment that there is. Last year the RO was about $18500. I don't know what their pricing is this year. I purchased things new because I don't really have time for tinkering, but you can get really nice used evaporators if you pay attention. If you are buying new order early- like before May, or it gets tight on delivery. Be sure you have plenty of sap storage capacity and be sure your building has sufficient electrical service. RO's draw a lot of current (I learned that the hard way). Your best money making investment is vacuum. I get a lot of sap on vacuum on days the gravity and buckets are dry. Good luck in your endeavor! If you want to talk syrup and my experience message me a phone number and I will try to call you some evening when things aren't so busy.

[saphound]

Reading this brings up a question as to culling low sugar trees. Is it once a low tree always a low tree? Couldn't other factors like the weather or soil moisture in a given year affect sugar content? I'm new to all this, but it seems sugar content goes up and down for a lot of people just during the season, let alone year to year. Just wondering, thanks.

Edit: Holy cow, Tab..I'd say you've got some pretty good trees to get 6 gallons from 7 taps. I had 10 taps and got 1.5 gals and I think the season is pretty much over here. What state are you in anyway?

[Galena]

..I'd say you've got some pretty good trees to get 6 gallons from 7 taps....

I got 8 gallons from 6 taps this morning, three trees with only two taps each. Two are reds and one's a sugar.

[Run Forest Run!]

I got 8 gallons from 6 taps this morning, three trees with only two taps each. Two are reds and one's a sugar.

Unless I misread the original post, I think he's talking about finished syrup Galena.

[Galena]

Unless I misread the original post, I think he's talking about finished syrup Galena.

Yeah, you're probably right...tired at this end.

[saphound]

Yes, I should have said gallons of syrup, I noticed it in his signature. I'd say that's pretty amazing don't you think?..6 gallons of syrup from 7 taps...must have been a good year last year or I'm firing all my slacker trees, lol.