D&G Manuals or support?

[Hotwire]

Im looking at buying a 25 acre property that has a full Sugar Shack setup. Its got a D&G 2 x 8 wood fired evaporator and 800 tapped trees that are all hosed together. In preparation, and to better educate myself before dropping $800,000... I want to have some manuals / guides / info on the setup, use and operation of this equipment. But no where have I found any kind of support or documentation on D&G evaps or accessories. No problem with finding the latest catalogue, but no support materials at all.

Help me make or avoid the biggest finance mistake of my life. :lol:

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[DrTimPerkins]

Manuals are sort of hit or miss for most items. ROs are the one exception where you will likely find one.

Most evaporators (until you get to really high end units with lots of options) operate in a similar fashion. General instructions on evaporation can be found in Chapter 6 of the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual 2nd edition https://mapleresearch.org/pub/mproducersmanual/ The 3rd edition will be out later this year.

Probably the best thing you could do would be to find a sugarmaker nearby who would be willing to teach you the trade in exchange for helping out.

If I could pass on one piece of information, it would be to focus first on learning how to manage the woods (tapping, sap collection, etc.) rather than the sugarhouse. That is where the money is made and where mistakes are costly. Maybe consider selling sap for a few years first until you get that under control, then get the processing side going. In either case, you're not going to make a fortune with 800 taps. Most studies have shown that 5,000-10,000 taps is where you finally start to make a reasonable profit to support an income.

[Hotwire]

Thank you, thats great into and managing the woods is on my "list of learning".

We want to buy the property due to its size and remoteness, the Sugar shack is a bonus. Its not EVER going to be a business / money maker. More of a hobby / gifting setup. A place to take time off, and spend time "Out side" with the wife and kids, learning something new that they can take pride in and have a tangible result. Besided.. everyone loves maple syrup right?