New hear with a few questions

[SSS2017]

This place is awesome! I've been reading on hear for a little over a year but I finally made the leap and started tapping my trees this year. I have 40 taps on 5 gallon buckets and I'm now certain my setup is undersized:) Anyway, I'm in the process of building an arch out of a 275 gallon oil tank. Currently I have a 20"x20"x7" stainless pan my neighbor made for me on top of a cut out 55 gallon drum in my little shack. I also threw together another 55 gallon drum outside with 2 chafing pans to help speed up the process. My plan will be to remove the outside stove and in its place will be the 275 gallon oil tank arch with a 4'6"x2'x8" ss pan.

Anyway, my questions are:
When you start to see mold/mildew in the bottom of the buckets do you pull them all and clean them with bleach? I'm assuming so. I've had the taps in for 3 weeks now and have gotten over 100 gallons of sap but we will be in a warm spell this week and I don't want the sap going bad. I can only burn every 5th day due to my full time job. I'm picking up 2 55 gallon drums that I will use to store the sap with frozen water jugs till I can boil.

When you pull your taps at the end of the season do you plug the tap holes with wood plugs or leave them alone? I've read a lot of mixed reviews on this.

Thanks and have fun! I love this hobby- sitting in the woods at all hours of the night boiling sap:)

Pictures of my setup, the arch I want to build, and the Petri dish bucket(only about 5/40 are like this).

[Run Forest Run!]

Welcome SSS2017!

Ideally washing out the buckets would be the preferred thing to do, but will you really have the time? If you do, then great. After my buckets have been in use for a few weeks, and I start to see the grunge forming I bring a roll of paper towelling with me when I'm collecting sap. After I dump the sap I use a few towels to thoroughly wipe out the pail. That usually sees me through the rest of the season.

When you are finished for the season leave the holes to heal all by themselves. Don't stick anything inside them and they'll be better off.

Enjoy your first season!!

[SSS2017]

Thanks Karen! That makes sense just wiping them down good. I remember when I cleaned them out with bleach when I first got them. Yeh it took a while, pita! I'm out now running through the night. I got 35 gallons of sap since last Sunday and I got 45 gallons in a day and a half with the warm we had yesterday and today. This whole week looks to be warm here so I'm going to walk around now and wipe down the buckets.
Mick

[Run Forest Run!]

This whole week looks to be warm here so I'm going to walk around now and wipe down the buckets.


You are going to wipe out the buckets in the dark? I hope that you mean you are going to wipe them down the next time you empty sap. Otherwise you are a much more dedicated sugarer than many of us here are!

[SSS2017]

I know what my last question was! With the setup I want to do with the 275 gallon oil tank arch, do you guys recommend a 6" stove pipe or 8"? I'm out in my woods and don't have power so there will be no fan on the stove. I have my setup facing southwest though so when I have the door open I'm always getting a nice breeze for a good air flow on the fire. I'm going to go open walls at this point with a lean to roof but will eventually close it in.

[SSS2017]

You are going to wipe out the buckets in the dark? I hope that you mean you are going to wipe them down the next time you empty sap. Otherwise you are a much more dedicated sugarer than many of us here are!

Yep, in the dark. I do firewood in the fall too and I got a pretty good headlamp for that. No different for this. With a full time job, a wife and two kids and coaching this is when I get most of my work done:) Our property is great though, nobody sees or hears me so I can be out all night.

[NY mapler]

I know what my last question was! With the setup I want to do with the 275 gallon oil tank arch, do you guys recommend a 6" stove pipe or 8"? I'm out in my woods and don't have power so there will be no fan on the stove. I have my setup facing southwest though so when I have the door open I'm always getting a nice breeze for a good air flow on the fire. I'm going to go open walls at this point with a lean to roof but will eventually close it in.

I actually just finished making my evaporator from an oil tank just like you are thinking. I went with 8' of 8" stove pipe. I kept reading that the bigger pipe was the way to go to get the most draft. I test boiled this past weekend with just water and I got 8-10 gph. I don't have a blower either, I just kept the clean out door open and it seemed to work great!

[SSS2017]

I actually just finished making my evaporator from an oil tank just like you are thinking. I went with 8' of 8" stove pipe. I kept reading that the bigger pipe was the way to go to get the most draft. I test boiled this past weekend with just water and I got 8-10 gph. I don't have a blower either, I just kept the clean out door open and it seemed to work great!

Thank you. I saw your build. Is there anything you'd change?

[NY mapler]

I did have quite the list of things to change and once I tested it with water the list shrunk a little. Granted, it was a test and I didn't have a preheater hooked up. Anyhow, with the ceramic blanket under the pan I have right about a 3" gap. I wanted to have 4" so I could cover it with ceramic blanket and then fire brick on top of that. I'm not sure if the blanket would hold up better with the brick protecting it, that's something I will find out in time and maybe something I wish I could change.

One thing I would change is coming up with a way to make straighter cuts on the tank. I made lines with a chalk line and cut it with a sawzall so my cuts were a little wavy. I think this is part of the reason my horizontal piece under the pan ended up being higher than I wanted.

I made my pan a true 2' x 4' forgetting that the tank is actually 2'2". Now my pan only sits on the edge about a 1/2". I should have made it wider so it had more surface to sit on. If I could go back, I would probably flip the angle iron around the top edge around so the outside edge is sticking up, it would have been a better seal for the pan. But, doing it that way would make the pan a little harder to remove since you would have to lift it up over the ledge.

Overall, I'm fairly satisfied the way it came out. I spent a lot of time on this site reading different threads and taking ideas here and there. I got my door from a local fireplace store and it was something they had laying around in the back for $25. It might pay off for you to visit places like that and pick up different parta here and there. I'll post some pictures of the inside build just to give different ideas.

[NY mapler]

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[NY mapler]

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[BSD]

After visiting with another MT member this weekend, i would go with 8" stack on the oil tank. I think 6" is too restrictive. for the high burn rates you want for sugaring.

[SSS2017]

Thanks everyone. This is my thought process. Hopefully you can see and read the picture. Your thoughts?