i need help

[jemsklein]

ok i have 300 taps right now but i can do 600 this season but my home made evaporator is 2x10' but only 7 feet of it is usable right know but for me to buy a new flue pan 2x6' would be $2100 and i know a fellow sugar maker with a 2.5x8' evaporator with finishing burners fire brick preheathood 20' of smoke stack for $2500 know will this be able to handle 600 taps or i was looking at a 4x14' know this can handle 2000 taps wich will be too big right know but doas any one know how much the 4x14' brand new would cost cuz im planning on expanding but it will be about 2 years untill im at 2000
please help me

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

I would tap all 600 boil as much as you can on your rig and sell the rest of the sap to another local producer.. This would give you a good idea of 1 what your rig can do and 2 where you really want to be.. I have a 4x10 and I boiled 1000 taps. If there was not a good run I had to wait a day to boil, and this is no fun either...

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

With all the time and pride you put into your evaporator, better use it for at least one season. Enjoy it while you are still in school as a hobby, you will be in the real world and have a job before you know it and the bigger you get, the less "FUN" it is as a hobby and more like a real job.

[MR Electrician]

With all the time and pride you put into your evaporator, better use it for at least one season. Enjoy it while you are still in school as a hobby, you will be in the real world and have a job before you know it and the bigger you get, the less "FUN" it is as a hobby and more like a real job.


thank you thats the most honest piece of advice that anyone can give a young up and commer my son is maple crazy as you can tell ,but i love him anyways ,
im enjoying the challenge of building everything from scratch and here he wants to buy a finished evaporator,
that takes the fun out of it and makes it into a business .
bahhh humbug.
dont mix business with pleasure james.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

James,

I started making syrup at aprox 13 years old, give or take a year or two with a 2x3 welded stainless flat pan on a hole in the ground and a cinderblock arch. I sure had fun with that setup for a few years and made some good syrup. Enjoy life as a kid(even though you appear to be 16 to 18 years old), I know you want to grow up fast but it will come faster than you want when you don't want it too. Your dad is helping you and teaching you a lot that will prove invaluable down the road. Enjoy making syrup with him and spending time with him while you are still at home and have him around as a hobby while you can. You have a nice setup and lots to be proud of. There will always be someone that always has a bigger, nicer and better setup than you and it is easy to get caught up in that. You seem to be a very bright and talented young man and you will learn a ton making syrup on your new setup and will have a blast. Remember, no matter how fast you can make syrup or boil it off, it will never be done soon enough or making it fast enough, it is just human nature and we are never content.

It is easy to get caught up in spend, spend, spend, work, work, work adding more taps and you take all of the fun out of it. A lot of trader members would love to have your setup and I would have when I was around your age and you have a lot to be proud of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

Yes, save money where you can. Make the things that you're capable of making, be as efficient as you can afford, etc....But try to work smarter rather than harder......I mean efficiency type things by that last sentence.

[gmcooper]

James,

I think Brandon summed things up quite well. Enjoy things one step at a time.
I first made syrup in Jr High boiled on a wood stove outside. Trees were 1000' back from the house. Collected buckets with snowmobile and then sled pulled by hand. When no snow I had to quit. It was fun and I made some really dark smoke flavored syrup. About 20 years later we started again. made 5 gallons on wood stove in our house. We grew pretty fast to make money. Worked like mad trying to do everything. Got up to 1000 taps nearly half buckets scattered all over creation. Got very tired, hated to see syrup season coming again. We cut back to 350 taps for a couple years. Then put in vacuum system and went to 600 taps. Now I am about 1000 again but enjoying it and expanding as I want to.

Spend this year going as you planned and then see when, where, and how much you want to expand. You and your family will enjoy it more.

[thenewguy]

James, if you have a 2x10 evaporator and 7 feet of it is usuasble. get yourself a 2x3 flue pan. 1/2 the price of a 2x6. That will gain you a few more taps!

[royalmaple]

If you guys have more stainless kicking around make anothe flat pan and put that in the place where I think you had a flat plate to cover the hole. Take advantage of all the heat you are creating before you send it up through the stack.

You might want to see if there is someone around that will buy your sap, work out a deal and keep in mind you still need to collect and truck the sap to that person, so consider that but you might do very well selling your sap. And boil what ever you can, and sell the rest. Like someone else said.

Especially if you have the trees and tubing already like you said. I'd tap them all but don't think you can handle boiling them all on your set up. So I'd line up someone to buy the extra sap upfront. Then start drilling till you run out of tubing.