Minimum taps for 2x8?

[mol1jb]

Hey all,

Trying to size my larger rig for next season. We will be tapping in the ball park of 120-150 next year, with max future taps of around 300. I would love to size my rig to easily handle the 300 in the future but is 120-150 enough to run a 2x8? All the taps will be on gravity vacuum.

Thanks,
Jacob

[Ryan Mahar]

On our old 2x6 with steam away we were fine with 1000 taps on vacuum (4-8 hour boils) , once we went to >1500 we needed to RO, then had 2000 taps......once we grew to greater than 2000 taps we updated the evaporator to 30 by 10.....

[mol1jb]

On our old 2x6 with steam away we were fine with 1000 taps on vacuum (4-8 hour boils) , once we went to >1500 we needed to RO, then had 2000 taps......once we grew to greater than 2000 taps we updated the evaporator to 30 by 10.....

Could you tell me more about your rig and pan setup? 1,000 taps on a 2x6 is quite a bit by most people's standards. But I wouldn't rule it out if I had the right setup.

[wiam]

My last year with a 2x6 I had 1600. ROed to about 16-18%. Most days I did not boil more than 3 hours. But I ran a large blower to the fire and ran very hot stack.

[mol1jb]

My last year with a 2x6 I had 1600. ROed to about 16-18%. Most days I did not boil more than 3 hours. But I ran a large blower to the fire and ran very hot stack.

Ya I can see a 2x6 with RO but Ryan said 1k with no RO? That seems like quite a bit on a 2x6. When you didn't have RO what were you running on your 2x6?

[wiam]

I got with an RO to do 900 taps.

[BAP]

This was first year with my "New to Me" 2x8 Algier wood fired, raised flue evaporator. I added a blower for air under fire. I have 225 taps this year, 105 on 3/16", 110 on a Shurflo pump and 10 on 5/16" gravity. Previous to that, I had a 20x66" CDL drop flue evaporator with 189 taps. With the smaller evaporator I was putting in some 8-10 hour days when it ran hard. Now with the 2x8, I am usually boiling 3-4 hours except 2-3 times when I had a lot of sap from running all day and overnight. I figure I was getting 45-50 gallons per hour threw it depending on the wood I was using and how hard I was feeding it. Eventually, I plan on getting a hood and pre-heater so I can tap the rest of my trees which will bring me to 275-300 taps. I would think you would be fine with a 2x8 at 125-150, especially if you plan on going to 300. When the doesn't run much you might have to wait to boil or boil for a shorter time.

[Russell Lampron]

It might take a couple of runs to get the evaporator sweet but 120 to 150 taps would be enough for a 2x8 and 300 taps won't be too many. I was planning on about 200 taps when I bought my 2x6 and had over 300 before I lit the fire for the first time. By adding a steam hood with preheater I was able to handle the 300 plus taps with some long boils. I still have the 2x6 but have added an RO, vacuum and about 400 more taps. I don't plan on getting a bigger evaporator but am planning on getting a bigger RO and doubling my tap count.

[mol1jb]

This was first year with my "New to Me" 2x8 Algier wood fired, raised flue evaporator. I added a blower for air under fire. I have 225 taps this year, 105 on 3/16", 110 on a Shurflo pump and 10 on 5/16" gravity. Previous to that, I had a 20x66" CDL drop flue evaporator with 189 taps. With the smaller evaporator I was putting in some 8-10 hour days when it ran hard. Now with the 2x8, I am usually boiling 3-4 hours except 2-3 times when I had a lot of sap from running all day and overnight. I figure I was getting 45-50 gallons per hour threw it depending on the wood I was using and how hard I was feeding it. Eventually, I plan on getting a hood and pre-heater so I can tap the rest of my trees which will bring me to 275-300 taps. I would think you would be fine with a 2x8 at 125-150, especially if you plan on going to 300. When the doesn't run much you might have to wait to boil or boil for a shorter time.

Thanks for the info. I was doing 8-9 hour boils this year and I don't really want to continue that trend.

[BAP]

Another thing I forgot to add is my evaporator is set up with a 2x5 raised flue and a 2x3 reversible flow syrup pan.

[sap retreiver]

I have a 2x8 with 145 taps. Raised flu cdl like they said it took two runs this year, close to 300 gallons before I had any syrup. I had planned on a 2x6 but this one fell in my lap and I am extremely happy with it. I do have a hood but I don't think that changes boil rate much and I'm still fine tuning it. On average I'm getting 40 gal an hour

[Ryan Mahar]

Sorry for late reply......The 2x6 with SA was rated for 500 taps, so no doubt we were way over. I believe the rating for many evaps are based on keeping a boiling time at around 3-5 hours??? So 1000 taps on 2x6 without RO was resulting in 8-10 hour boils at times when the flow was very strong Also several days in a row just to get through large volumns of sap...otherwise, early season and times of slower flows we would average 5-6 hour boils......just depends how long you want to stand there and fire really......and of course manage sugar sand!! This 2x6 had revoluation pans so switching the flow of the syrup pan is very fast which makes a big difference too i believe.....