Purchased a leader half pint yesterday.

[Eliemma]

I am looking for any tips or advice. Marked the trees that I’m going to tap. Going to try and start out with 32 taps. Thanks

[Bucket Head]

Congrats on the half pint! Depending on how many hours you can devote to boiling, 32 taps might be a lot for it. I had 12 taps my first year on a flat pan and some days I was swamped! I got another flat pan going the following year!

The main thing is to have fun and enjoy it!

Steve

[phil-t]

Do you have the preheater pan and do have an AUF addon? Both of those would increase your boil rate by quite a bit. I ran 20 taps last year and only the "big" run days were much work. I'm planning on running 50 taps this year; that will be near my max available trees (near me). You could run a hobby style vacuum system (sap-sucker) for more sap and maybe add a hobby style RO if you get a bit too much sap. Lots of options for the hobby maple business, without a ton of cost associated with it.
I'm hoping to make 15-20 gals of syrup this year.

The AUFis actually a pretty simple DIY project.

[wmick]

No tips or advice from me... Just throwing some rough numbers out there... as I contemplate your project.

Fair yield - 10 gallons per tap per season. (as per google)
= 320 gallons of sap.
at 4 gallons/hour (as per Leader)
= 80 hours of boiling... (plus warm-up - cool-down time)

Hope you have some help...:)

[Eliemma]

Do have the preheated pan. I was wondering if I should have purchased the supreme pan?

[phil-t]

Don't think, for 30 taps. Get AUF setup. It will make a big difference.

[RileySugarbush]

The preheater pan on a half pint is more of a feeder pan, with a little bit of pre warming. With cold sap in it it will get condensation on the surfaces. Make sure you mount it so condensate runs back and drips outside the main pan. No sense evaporating the drips twice.

A agree the AUF will really help your rate. Also, look up how to brick it so the flue gasses run up and under the back of the pan with a small gap.

[phil-t]

My "preheat pan" has a separate frame and box welded up to place it behind the the evaporator and the flue gas runs through that box on the way to the chimney. Sap gets near boiling - big help.

[Sweet Shady Lane]

I'm running a half pint pan with a preheater that sits at the back of my pan and about three inches from my stack and by the time the boil starts in my pan you can't keep your finger in it very long, keeps my boil going very nice

[minehart gap]

No tips or advice from me... Just throwing some rough numbers out there... as I contemplate your project.

Fair yield - 10 gallons per tap per season. (as per google)
= 320 gallons of sap.
at 4 gallons/hour (as per Leader)
= 80 hours of boiling... (plus warm-up - cool-down time)

Hope you have some help...:)

Yes, but over 6 weeks. Good days may be over 1 gal. sap per tap. I'm not sure of the typical boil rate for a half pint but you should have as one fun. If you start with 20 taps and see if you can handle it. You should know soon when the season starts. If you can keep up, maybe add more taps

[buckeye gold]

It will not take you long to become disenchanted with the half pint if your planning on expanding. I ran one for three years and was up to 60+ taps. I was pretty frustrated with 60 taps on it. I added AOF and it helped a lot. I could get 6-7 gph peak and on a lucky day 8. I spent a lot of hours boiling. Before my 4th year I decided I was upgrading. I bought a hybrid pan from Smokey Lake and modified (lengthened) my arch to make it work better, and added a better air system.
I now run 100+ taps and still have some long days, but can usually finish in 5-6 hours. The good news is there is always some one looking to start that will buy your half pint pan. It only took me about a week to sell mine once I listed it. I'd say run the half pint a season or two then upgrade. You'll learn a lot using it. It gets tricky trying to adjust the sap feed with the preheater tank, so run a little deeper until you get used to it or you will burn your pan pretty quick; your going to burn it sooner or later (yes you will) so just take my advice and make it later.

[johnallin]

I am looking for any tips or advice. Marked the trees that I’m going to tap. Going to try and start out with 32 taps. Thanks

I think you made a great decision! You'll have a blast with that half pint.. Don't worry about production or how long you'll be boiling - boiling's the fun part. Focus on making the best syrup you can-not how much you can make-that will come later. I boiled 2 years on one of those, ended up with 60+taps and made some award winning product. Moved up to a Leader 2x6 Patriot with 195 taps and still have it.

My advice:
Keep your wood small and dry, fire it often, research some of the threads on here to see how to maximize the bricking setup and you'll do just fine. Keep your collection equipment spotless, don't hold sap too long and you'll make some amazing product on that rig. Get too big and it's just too much work to keep it all tidy and clean.
Enjoy it, it's a great rig and will hold it's value forever.

[Nogden3929]

Any suggestions on how to seal the door on a leader half pint when you add AUF? Got lots of blowing ash last year.

[Maplemonkey]

I am currently boiling for about 20 taps on Propane with a pan made to fit my two burner camp stove. I can get to almost 3gpm by preheating on an electric single burner. I just obtained more property and would like to go to 30 taps. Have the funds to obtain a hobby type evaporator. Have unlimited access to free wood on my property

1. Seems only worthwhile to about double or more the GPM to 6-7 gpm from what I currently have, given that I would now be factoring in the time spent on getting wood to the boiling location - does this make sense?

2. On evaporator supplier websites they list even up to 10 gpm for 2x4 hobby evaporators. How legitimate are these claims?

3. Is a divided pan worth it?

4. What are the extras that really are must haves?

5. I am in Upstate NY - Finger Lakes. do you have any suggestions or preferences on a 2x4 evaporator - wood - divided pan as far as manufacturer?

Thanks!!!!!