Jumping in with both feet

[Woodsrover]

Just signed up and thought I'd say hello.

1000 years ago when I was a kid a friend and I boiled sap on an open-air cinder block arch using old porcelain refrigerator bins for pans. We made a gallon or two a year and had a great time doing it. Jump ahead a few decades or so I've got a pair of my own kids and thought I'd get back into it for their sake and my own. I've been thinking about it for years and decided this year to do something about it.

Started by ordering a 2x3 evaporator from William Mason in Maine which just arrived a few weeks ago. I dropped a pretty good sized white pine which yielded 70' of log for a new sugar shack. It's 20x10 with 16' for the evaporator and a 4' section at the back for wood storage. Cut up the logs into 2x8s, 2x6s and 2x4s for the framing on my little sawmill and set it to dry a bit ago. Started building a couple weeks ago and with any luck I'll have the walls sheathed with plywood and the roof trusses up this weekend. Maybe even plywood on the roof too, but we'll see. Will post some pictures when I get a chance. Have a question about the size of the cupola but will put that in the proper section.

I have a pretty good sugar bush on my property with about one good acre with almost nothing but sugar maple on it. Will start this year with probably 50 taps hung with sap sacks. Was toying with the idea of a pipeline as the land is sloped perfectly for it but I think I'm going to pass. Haven't ordered the sap sacks yet so any input for you guys is welcome.

Still have a bunch of pieces and parts to order and bring together but we should be ready to go by tapping time.

Looking forward to learning all I can from the members here and hope I can add to the conversation.

[morningstarfarm]

With your construction project underway, I would stick with the sap sacks this year....focus on the sugar house...plan and think about tubing for next year....you will have a totally new appreciation after lugging sap this season...good luck

[Woodsrover]

With your construction project underway, I would stick with the sap sacks this year....focus on the sugar house...plan and think about tubing for next year....you will have a totally new appreciation after lugging sap this season...good luck

Plans are to collect with a 4wd UTV (or a 4wd tractor if the going gets tough) into 5-gallon pails and transfer that to larger storage at the shack. Will probably start with 4 55-gallon drums. From the drums I'll pump to a 25-gallon tank up high inside that shack and gravity feed into the warming pan. That's the plan anyway....

[n8hutch]

There's some guys on here who have made their own sap sack holders out of PVC and zip ties for like 50 cents a piece. Maybe worth looking into.

[stoweski]

Try to find a used (water only) 100 gallon poly tank for the back of the UTV. Dump you sacks or pails into it. The valve on the bottom can be used to empty the tank.

I rinse it out after I'm done for the day. Keeps the tank from smelling. I have an RTV. Never had problems in the snow here. I did use a tractor before the RTV but it's much easier now.

[OrangeAgain]

I bought 25 sap galvanized bag holders for $2.65 each, bags for $0.27 each and the special spouts for $1.50 each from CDL in Newport, VT. See page ten of their catalog: http://www.cdlusa.net/catalogue.aspx

I've seen the same holders elsewhere for over $7.

[unc23win]

One thing to consider if you have slope is to run a pipe with a couple of funnels to pour buckets into every so often and have it all go to either the collection tank or sugarhouse. I have seen this done very successfully more than once. A lot less to carry and maybe less transferring sap.

[BreezyHill]

Woodsrover,

I would look at the Dollars and cents. If the future is to keep going and expand then go with a small tubing system. Figure how much $$$ it will take to do 50 saps with holders and spouts and then calculate how much tubing this will buy you. On a 2x3 evap you will be spending plenty of time boiling and the time spent collecting may need to be spent boiling in order to keep ahead of your sap supply.

When I was little we collected. I learned really quick how to drive a tractor and then a truck to help with collecting with my dad. It was a blast! But when I got tired I feel asleep while dad stayed up and boiled. It was so sad to see a tank of sap get dumped because it was old and the truck tank was full of new sap.

If this season is like others in the past that were El Nino affected it will be a good season for our farm with several 2-3 day nonstop runs. This are a bear unless you have plenty of sap storage in a cool location, RO, or a big rig...then there is always the selling of sap option.

Good Luck!

Ben

[Woodsrover]

Thanks for all the replies. In hindsight I should have probably bought a 2x4 evaporator but that's water under the bridge. Might start with 35-40 taps this year if ya'll think 50 taps will give me more sap than I can boil. I don't mind long days and nights out there and I'm hoping to boil 80-100 gallons a day on the weekends but maybe I'm stretching it.... I'm hoping to produce 400-600 gallons of sap a season and am pretty comfortable finding enough time to boil that much down. In NW Ct how much sap should I expect to get per tap? (I know....That's a questions impossible to answer!) I was guessing I would average 10 gallons per tap but maybe I'm wrong.

I'm still torn between sacks and a pipeline. I have a perfect spot for pipe and in mud season it would be easier. I could park a trailer at the bottom with 200 gallons of storage and not have to worry about it every night. Does anyone use those 275 pallet totes? I really like the idea of them but thought they would be hard to clean out. Was going to use open-top drums instead....

[morningstarfarm]

The tote tanks work great..just need to cut the top out with a saws all..makes cleaning a breeze

[Jmsmithy]

Rover

Welcome back to the sweetest addiction! I started out as a hobbyist like most, with 45-55 buckets/sacks. As we decided to grow into an actual business we now tapping approx 275-300 trees all tubed with a vac system sized appropriately. Now looking to expand again by property purchase. I am calculating the cost of a sap shack and full vac system to accommodate an additional (hopefully!) 2500-3500 trees.

My point - once you get used to " flipping a few switches" ( yes, a bit more complex than that but you get the idea) and watching all that beautiful liquid gold sap flowing from woods to tank - bags/buckets will be long forgotten! Though in fairness I still hang about 25 for some trees that grew in an uncooperative spot!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!!!

[RC Maple]

Rover - I think the number of taps you are thinking of is about right. I boil on a 2x3 continuous flow flat pan with 55 taps using buckets. For some of the season I always wish I had a little more sap and save it all to boil on the weekend - hoping for an all day Saturday boil. Then as things get going a little more I have to boil 1 or 2 nights a week plus all day Saturday and some on Sunday -that's just right. Usually the last weekend of the season when the temps are getting into the upper 50s and the runs are really good I boil every night and all weekend and can't boil down everything that I gather (because it gets harder to keep the sap cold). If I wanted to make more syrup or not have to dump sap at the end of the season I would have to go bigger. You will probably wish you had more sap to boil with 35 taps but you shouldn't feel like you are getting behind. With 50 taps you are getting close to the max for a part-timer on a 2x3 who can't boil every day. Good luck to you

[maple flats]

With a good slope to your woods, I'd suggest you look into a small tubing system using 3/16 tubing and no mainline the first year. Leader has 800' rolls of the 3/16 for under $50. Then the taps and tees and a few other fittings from either CDL or Lapierre or DSD and you could run run it all into a 275 gal tote. Be sure it's 1st life was a mild flavored food item. I think the best ones to find would be apple juice or concentrate, vanilla, OJ, cooking oil and others similar, do not use non food ones nor strong flavors like pickles, soy sauce or the like.
If trying to do 40 taps, just run 2 lines in 3/16 with 20 taps or so on each. The 3/16 with the slope will give you natural vacuum. If you have another producer nearby, see if they are interested in buying excess sap from you, if yes, still no mainline, just the 3/16 tubing, but now run 3 or 4 lines with up to 30 on each. On slow days you will boil it all OK, on high flow days you can sell the "fresh excess" to the other producer, either in exchange for syrup or for cash.
Welcome and have fun!

[stoweski]

Go for 100 taps on the 2x3... Just build yourself an RO! :D

[Jcrawfo]

Rover- I too have a mason 2x3. First year I did 30 buckets. Worked ok but was a challenge during mud season. Some days only ended up with 20 or so gallons. A good run you might get 45 or so. Last year I did about 27 on pipeline and about 18 buckets. The pipeline out produced the buckets at least 2 to 1. On marginal days I ended up hooking up shur flow pump and would end up with 30 or so gallons. On good runs I would end up with 80 gallons of sap between the buckets and pipeline. Had a nine day stretch where I boiled every night. I did take one day off from work to catch up on boiling. Pipeline defiantly easier and more sap. I ran the pipeline into 55 gal food grade drums.

[Woodsrover]

Thanks again for all the replies. Spent the first half of the day sheathing the new sugar shack and the second half reading all I can about this new 3/16" tubing. Pretty cool stuff and thanks for the heads-up. It should solve a number of problems I might have running sacks (getting to each tree in the mud being the biggest) and will allow me a single collection point. It'll be cheaper in the long run too!

My land is pretty heavily slopped and I should be able to get a good 40' of drop from the top taps to a good collection area. I'll either run a couple of these totes or perhaps a number of open-top barrels in a small hay wagon I have. I should be able to check/rotate the hose into my barrels once a day and haul the whole rig up to the sugar shack on Saturday. Perfect.

Thanks again!

[maple flats]

If you plan to only boil on weekends, do all you can to keep the sap as cold as possible. Think of sap the same way you would milk, if it gets warm, it spoils quickly. Snow can help a lot to keep it cool, and be sure to keep the sun off your totes. I used a 90% shade cloth (used in greenhouses) to help keep mine cool before I had my insulated milk tanks and my RO to process faster.

[n8hutch]

I agree with Dave. I personally make every attempt to boil my sap the day it runs. It can make for a long day if you have a 10hr work day that pays the bills. But I like to make light syrup. That's hard to do if you hold your sap.

[Woodsrover]

I agree with Dave. I personally make every attempt to boil my sap the day it runs. It can make for a long day if you have a 10hr work day that pays the bills. But I like to make light syrup. That's hard to do if you hold your sap.

11 hour workdays but we'll see what happens. Maybe I can duck out a couple hours early on good sap-flow days.....

Some photos from today;

http://seriestrek.com/images/ss3.jpg

http://seriestrek.com/images/ss4.jpg

[ADK_XJ]

11 hour workdays but we'll see what happens. Maybe I can duck out a couple hours early on good sap-flow days.....

Some photos from today;

http://seriestrek.com/images/ss3.jpg

http://seriestrek.com/images/ss4.jpg

Wow, looks great - not to be too sentimental but your kids will love you for doing this. I remember every sugar season growing up in VT...

I'm facing a similar challenge in planning to scale up to 50-ish taps this coming season. I want to do tubing but not sure I have the needed slope. Maybe have 50 feet of drop total across my 5 acre sugar bush and not uniform. You're in a good spot and with options!

Enjoy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[maple flats]

Wow, 50' drop over 5 acres! My initial bush had 6' over 14 acres (thus "maple flats"). I had to collect from 7 different tubing systems throughout the bush just to get 180 taps. I am now setting up that bush with vacuum and sap ladders to bring it all to the sugarhouse.

[Woodsrover]

Just went out and took some quick measurements...I can get a 30'+ drop in elevation in 300' or so of ground from the top of my small sugar bush to the bottom. I can get another 20' of elevation if I want to extend the run of tubing a bit. I can also grab close to 75 taps with three runs of tubing so there's room to expand if I want to. Gonna stick with 50 this year.

The more I read about this 3/16" line the more it makes sense for me. Now I just need to figure out what to collect in....

[Jcrawfo]

50 taps will keep ya pretty busy with that rig when it runs good. Glad it worked out for ya.

[ADK_XJ]

Wow, 50' drop over 5 acres! My initial bush had 6' over 14 acres (thus "maple flats"). I had to collect from 7 different tubing systems throughout the bush just to get 180 taps. I am now setting up that bush with vacuum and sap ladders to bring it all to the sugarhouse.

Oh? I was under the impression we were on the shallow side of the preferred setup for tubing...the property was originally a farm and, either naturally or over years of management, has developed sort of a three-tiered landscape: top flat horse pasture and barn, middle slope the old fields and horse turnout, lowest flat house and gentle drop to the old country road.

Anyway, at least I'm working with southern exposure and SOME slope.

Sorry, unintended thread hijack...back to the discussion at hand of this gentleman's awesome project.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk