What size holding tank

[LMP Maple]

Just starting out. I think I will do 50 buckets this year with 100 being my max. What size holding tank would you recommend. I am going stainless. was looking at the 117 gallon but thinking that may be to small. I hope to boil regularly during the season. Just wondering if a 200 gallon makes more sense. thanks

[fred]

Generally 2 gallons per tap, 3 for vacuum

[Haynes Forest Products]

When you say HOLDING TANK will it be holding your days sap collection?? Then will it be pumped into your head tank. Do you have a shack? What size evap will you be holding it for. Its such a generic question that has so many options.

[LMP Maple]

Sorry about that. So I have a mini pro. 19" X 48" oil fired. I guess you would call this the head tank? The tank will sit on my deck which is above my sugar shack and supply the evaporator by gravity. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks

[fred]

I like to have no more than 2 hours worth of sap/concentrate in the head tank for the evaporator. you don't want it to get too warm as the bacteria grow quickly

[Haynes Forest Products]

So lets look towards growth down the road A good head tank that sits outside for you would be 100 gallons BUT you will collect into a poly tank and pump into the head tank so get a nice covered tank SS and it will be with you foreve abd some day it will be your bulk syrup tank:mrgreen:

Get an open top round bottom tank with cover and I mean a cover not a sheet of OSB and man oh man it will be nice to clean and last forever.

[wnybassman]

I would say 200 minimum. You don't know what the future will bring :)

[Russell Lampron]

If there's a chance of an RO in your future 100 gallons will be more than enough for a head tank. I have a 175 gallon head tank and rarely use more than the bottom 8". If this is your only holding tank used as a head tank too then you'll need one that holds 200 to 300 gallons.

I have 725 taps on high vacuum and the equipment in my signature.

[maple flats]

And over the years my head tank has kept getting smaller. My first was a 415 gal SS milk tank, then a 200 gal SS milk tank. Then I got a 150 gal round bottom SS tank. I do use most of that, but once it gets filled to about 125-140 gal, with concentrate, I then run it back thru the RO to concentrate further. First time thru is typically from about 2% up to 7.5-8%, second time I take it to 10-12%. I doubt I'll ever get a different head tank, I like this size feeding my 3x8. I always empty the head tank before shutting down so it can be cleaned the next morning.
Aside from the 100 gal head tank, you also want enough sap storage to hold 2-3 gal of sap for each tap you have. The other tanks can set on the ground, and you can pump the sap up to the head tank. It's far better to have more than one tank. That way every time you empty a tank you can clean it, then put the new sap in a clean tank. I do this with 3 sap storage tanks on the ground and at times all 3 are full. I process from one at a time, then wash it before adding more sap.