5 gallon buckets?

[Silverxfox]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the maple world and have some probably more common questions. I've been reading and looking at many bucket setups. Would it be practical to put in a spile with tubing running straight down into a 5 gallon food safe bucket with lid? Drilling a hole in it for the tube.

Any information is appreciated

[Maplebrook]

Welcome to the maple world! This set-up is very practical.

Use at least a 4' drop line. Set the bucket on the ground with drop line through hole in lid, then find the spot to tap. Allow for snow melting away during the season.
Drill a second vent hole (1/8") if the lids fit tight. I used this for years.

Darren

[mudr]

My uncle-in-law, the guy that I helped for a few years who introduced me to maple, uses all 5 gallon bucket setups. I want to say his drop lines are 3 ft, but 4 would be better. The only tip I can give you is be mindful of wind. The buckets in the front of the woods need to have baler twine wrapped through the bucket handle and around the tree to prevent being blown away. There is a fine line between being tight enough to hold, but loose enough to allow you to dump into the bucket you carry. The trees on the inside of his woods don't need the twine.

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[themoonlighttapper]

This is what we started out with a couple of years ago. I believe we had 3' drop lines. Have since moved on to 3/16" gravity lines for natural vacuum for the majority of our taps, although we still use a couple of buckets. Our buckets were food grade, purchased from Lowe's, which had compatible snap on lids with a twist off spout for pouring out. They worked fairly well, although the tubing lines eliminate a lot of trudging through the woods carrying heavy buckets of sap (and also seem to help get us increased sap flow).

[barnbc76]

Works great I have used smaller buckets but i like the capacity of the 5 gal as the fill up fast on some of my better trees., and they are cheap. Not to mention the plastic taps are cheaper and much more productive.

[Tsmaple]

I did this exact thing my first year and it worked perfect, I still do it around the house as my property is flat and many of the trees are far apart


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[Silverxfox]

Thank you all for the replies! I'll definitely give this a go; I've looked at tubing initially but realized all of that sap has to follow the main line to some type of large tank. The ridge most of my bulk trees are on is not vehicle accesible at this time so I wouldn't be able to move the sap! Hence the buckets till I figure everything out.

[DocsMapleSyrup]

We all have found our food grade 5 gallon buckets at different locations. Where I live, I am able to get 5 gallon buckets from the bakery in the grocery store for free. they have a label on them and need to be washed out but they usually had frosting or jelly filling for rolls, etc. Good, free and reusable.

[themoonlighttapper]

Perfectly reasonable and a good way to start. We have a similar problem with some of our lines and are getting a small pump to transfer the sap about 60' in elevation to where we boil. We'll see how it goes. Best of luck this year!

[DrTimPerkins]

Would it be practical to put in a spile with tubing running straight down into a 5 gallon food safe bucket with lid? Drilling a hole in it for the tube.

I would suggest drilling the hole in the side of the bucket as opposed to the lid. Rain and snowmelt can collect in the lid and run through the hole where the tube goes in (unless it is really tight), thus diluting your sap and increasing your boiling time.

[Chickenman]

The few I have set up this way I have a grommet in the lid for the tubing. Holds tubing tight and I just put a plug in the hole and change out full bucket for and empty and I'm on my way.

[eustis22]

the trouble with the side hole is when/if you swap out the buckets it leaves an exit for sap to slop out of. I added a plastic nozzle to my lid where my tube connects to prevent rain/melt water drainage.

on the flip side I am wondering if now I need some kind of vent hole.

[bprifle01]

I use five gallon buckets to collect too. What I have done is drill a hole off center (an inch or two from the edge of the cover) that a half inch nylon barb fitting will just snap through. The 5/16 tube fits snug through the fitting. I've never found a place at the bottom of a tree that was level, so I make sure the tube is on the high side of the bucket. Any water that collects on the lid of the bucket doesn't reach the barb fitting to leak into the bucket. It's easy to swap out the bucket with the tube still through the barb fitting and cover. I usually weight the cover with a rock or a small piece of fire wood. I could snap the cover on the bucket, but I find it a pain to try to pull the cover off with mittens on or with cold fingers.

Bill

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Half of cinderblock or heavy rock on top of lid will hold them in place and keep the wind from blowing them around.

[Bucket Head]

We used buckets and tubing for years and they worked great. We didn't tie anything though. We simply set the lid on the pail (for quick and easy removal for dumping) and we would set a brick on the lid. A rock or a piece of broken cement block would do when we were out of bricks. We were really low budget back then...
We also did what Dr. Tim mentions above. I didn't want to drill a hole in a good bucket so we drilled a slightly smaller diameter hole in the lid than what the O.D. of the tube was. Use a drill guide to find out for sure. The tight fit worked very well. We would always drill the hole at the edge of the lid, not the center. Then we would set the pail so it had a slight tilt to it (usually the ground wasn't flat, or we would take a small stick or rock and put it under the edge of the pail) and place the tube at the "high" side. That way water went to the opposite side of the lid and would run off without pooling any where near the tube.
Steve

[Wanabe1972]

I found when I did this that you can drill a hole in the top near one side. Drill the hole the smallest size you can and still get the tip of an old 5/16 tap started into it. When you push the tap all the way in it will expand the hole/shrink the tap and make a perfect water tight seal. Then when you collect just remove the top and dump out. I had many problems will holes in the side of buckets like the hose sliding out and buckets splitting if they froze and a pain to dump. Also when I first did this I filled the top of the bucket with water and after a week it never leaked a drop. Jeff

[whity]

I had done that for a season. 4.5 to 5 foot drop. 5/16 hole in the top side of the pail. Not in the lid. A hole is the lid will allow meting snow or rain in the sap. And an average sixe rock to hold the lid down. Don't seal it shut. That just makes it harder to empty the buckets.

[buck3m]

I'm old school. I hang all sizes of my plastic buckets on the trees. I use a hole saw and drill a 1 3/4" hole, plenty big enough for spouts with hooks to fit through (because I already had lots of them, the last batch of spouts I bought are hookless.) The hole is well below the top of the bucket with at least two of the "rings" above the hole. I snap down just the back of the cover so I can remove ice and look inside if necessary] and pour the sap out the hole and the open side of the bucket lid. I think that setup works pretty slick. If you use this method I highly recommend trying it on a bucket or two before drilling all the holes.

For me, some advantages over setting them on the ground include less stability problems and greater all-around simplicity.

[Bucket Head]

I did not want the cover to be "sealed shut" as it is too difficult to try and release the lid. As long as the bucket and lid wasn't deformed, the lid set on the pail rim well enough to keep water, bugs, debris, etc. out, and the brick or rock was quickly removed and replaced for emptying. The other advantage was the brick helped keep the empty pails from blowing around or away. I've seen many plastic pails rolling around on the ground in the wind but still leashed to the tree by the tubing, and a pail on its side is about as unproductive as it gets.
We did about 25-30 pails like this, all in front yards in my neighborhood. I wouldn't recommend 500 brick-topped pails spread throughout acres of woods somewhere, lol. This set up works well for the small producer who uses the inexpensive and easy to find plastic pails and lids.
Steve

[berkshires]

I think I'm going to try two or three buckets like this this season if I can find free buckets.

Right now all my taps are the kind that go straight into maple buckets hanging on the tree, so I have no tubing, and no taps that take tubing. For tubing, I guess any 5/16 line would work (though I don't know where I'll find 15 feet for sale!) but for taps, what kind do I want? I imagine most taps these days are designed for a vacuum system, so they might not work well when there's no vacuum pulling the sap out of the hole. What do you recommend?

[barnbc76]

I bought the tubing at home depot, it came in 20ft length for $12, remember it is the inside diamiter that is 5/16 not the outside diamiter. I bought my taps off of leaderevaperator.com it does not matter if you have vacuum or not. They work better than the metal ones by alot and cheaper.

[Silverxfox]

You are all a wealth of knowledge! Thank you for all of the strategies and experience.

[johnpma]

I think I'm going to try two or three buckets like this this season if I can find free buckets.

Right now all my taps are the kind that go straight into maple buckets hanging on the tree, so I have no tubing, and no taps that take tubing. For tubing, I guess any 5/16 line would work (though I don't know where I'll find 15 feet for sale!) but for taps, what kind do I want? I imagine most taps these days are designed for a vacuum system, so they might not work well when there's no vacuum pulling the sap out of the hole. What do you recommend? I'll make you up some drops with 5/16 tap let me know how many you want. I have a bunch of 5/16" tubing laying around In the past we used cleaned milk jugs

[ADK_XJ]

Yep, same here - I've been using 5g food grade buckets from Tractor Supply and Lowes to tap some of the bigger trees that are off the beaten path (aka atv trail). THey do well, take longer to fill and seem to stay more free of bugs, crud, etc.

The one piece of advice I have is to steer clear of those snap-tight lids with the collapsible "spout" and screw-on cap. For one, they are a PITA to empty / fill because of that spout but, more important, that collapsible spout is a breeding ground for bacteria and mold in my experience and is very difficult to clean. The flat pry-off tops (like at Tractor Supply in red) are much better IMHO.

[ADK_XJ]

I'll make you up some drops with 5/16 tap let me know how many you want. I have a bunch of 5/16" tubing laying around In the past we used cleaned milk jugs
Hey, now that's a deal! Actually, care to help out another newbie not far from your backyard? My drops were all scrounged from a neighbor and are nowhere near long enough...

[berkshires]

I'll make you up some drops with 5/16 tap let me know how many you want. I have a bunch of 5/16" tubing laying around In the past we used cleaned milk jugs

Well that's very nice of you! I totally would've taken you up on it, but I wound up buying a few from the MapleTrader guys, just as a test. Shipping cost as much as my order! I got these: http://www.mapleguys.com/product/DL.html. I got a few buckets for free (well, I promised them some syrup, but mostly free!) from my local bakery. So I'm going to add a few drop lines into buckets and see which I like better, this setup or the buckets directly on the trees.

Maybe pass your extras on to ADK_XJ (post right above this one)?

Thanks again!

[ADK_XJ]

Well that's very nice of you! I totally would've taken you up on it, but I wound up buying a few from the MapleTrader guys, just as a test. Shipping cost as much as my order! I got these: http://www.mapleguys.com/product/DL.html. I got a few buckets for free (well, I promised them some syrup, but mostly free!) from my local bakery. So I'm going to add a few drop lines into buckets and see which I like better, this setup or the buckets directly on the trees.

Maybe pass your extras on to ADK_XJ (post right above this one)?

Thanks again!

Very kind of you - good luck!

[johnpma]

Hey, now that's a deal! Actually, care to help out another newbie not far from your backyard? My drops were all scrounged from a neighbor and are nowhere near long enough... How many do you need? I have some short lengths from roll I can cut you some drops I also have some taps

[ash10383]

We get 5 gal buckets from local Walmarts from the Bakery Dept. they also have 2 gal buckets - $1.00 regardless of size

[hansel]

Do you need to add a vent hole if you use those tight fitting bakery buckets? My first year sugaring and I will be using clear check valves with tubing into a tight hole drilled in either the top or top side of 2 gallon bakery buckets. Collect and store with 4 and 5 gallon bakery buckets.

[psparr]

What worked for me, was to just snap on a bit of the lid. It's on enough to keep rain out, but makes it easy to pop the lid off and dump the bucket. It's a real pain taking the lid off each time.
Just make sure the tubing is real snug so it doesn't pull out of the lid.