Up to 500 Taps: What Size Head Tank?

[OrangeAgain]

I'm planning on installing 500 taps (400 on Sap Saks + 100 on 3/16" gravity) for the 2023 season. I'll be boiling on a Smoky Lake Maple 2' X 6', wood-fired, AOF, raised-flue Silverplate evaporator rated for 78 GPH. I don't expect to get to 78 GPH, however I am hoping to get to 50 GPH.

My sap collection from the trees will be manual (human powered) into (3) 275 gallon IBC totes. One tote on my FEL will be swapped out for the one on the 3/16" gravity line. The other two totes will be filled with sap from the Sap Saks.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I'm not sure how sap saks or your 3/16" lines produce but you could probably get by with an 800 gallon tank. I'd look to go bigger though and stay at minimum 1000 gallon tank. We have 530 taps that will eventually be all vacuum, half real vacuum and half shurflo pumps. I'm looking at the 1181G CDL tank most likely, 4x12x4. We can also process whenever needed. If you are looking at several days of possible runs before you can process, may need more than 2 gallons storage per tap.

[darkmachine]

You'll have to find a workflow that works for you. I run a 2x6 wood fired evaporator. We collect 200 gallons of sap each trailer load. I RO directly from our collection tank into the head tank (holds 200gal). I start the RO and as soon it hits 4% i start filling the head tank. I give it about a 10 min head start and then I light my evaporator (this is a mid season start up). I find that my 2 membrane 4040 home made RO is pretty evenly paired with the evaporator so i never get more than about 75 to 100 gallons in my feed tank. When my RO runs out of sap I start a wash, when the wash is done I finish my boil and shut down. I'm just one guy, so it's what works for me, it's my elegant maple syrup dance, lol. Again you'll find what works for you. I'm under 500 taps at the moment, probably between 3 and 4 hundred. I hope you have a good collecting crew to get all that sap out of the woods!

[maple flats]

Back even when I had 1320 taps, my highest number ever, and I processed sap from others , bringing my total # of taps to just under 2500 (but I rarely got more than 1800-2000 taps worth on any given day, I only had a 150 gal head tank. I had it elevated on a platform on the north side of the sugarhouse. I supplied it from 3 SS tanks on the ground as well as 2 caged totes on my gooseneck trailer, which each held 280 gal when filled to the very top, which I did most times when sap enough was available. To fill the head tank, I hooked up to whichever tank on the ground had the oldest sap in it, I ran it thru the RO, and sent it to the head tank at about 8%. Then as the head tank got to about 40-50 gal in it (the evaporator was already full to operating depth) I fired up the evaporator. My RO did 250 gph from 2% to 8% in one pass if I held the operating pressure at 275PSI. Often asthe head tank got near full, I started recirculating from the head tank back through the RO and back to the head tank. When doing that I usually lowered the operating pressure to about 225PSI. As the head tank got down to about 40 gal, I switched back to RO fresh sap from a ground tank and sending the concentrate to the head tank.
My RO output was slightly higher output than my evaporation rate, thus in time I again switched to recirculating through the RO and back to the head. I continued that until all new sap had been run thru the RO and the head tank was down to my stop fueling mark on my tank level gauge, and I stopped adding wood. I then let it burn out, shut off the AOF/AUF blower pumped all drawn syrup from my draw off tank and sent it to my finisher. I generally was filtering and bottling as this went on, but I didn't always finish all of the syrup that day. If held over, it was finished the next day as soon as the evaporator was at full boil.
As I bottled, I always filled bottles and jugs as needed for the grade I was producing until my rack was up to proper inventory, then I let the rest sit in the finisher until I had enough to till another barrel. At that point I brought the finisher contents back up to 190-200F, filtered it and sent it to a clean empty barrel. I never left a partially full barrel to finish the next day, I had marks near my draw off box which showed when I had 26.5+ gal and 40+ gal in the finisher. I had both of those size barrels, I also had 16 gal and 15.5 gal barrels, but I didn't have those marks on the side of my draw off box.
I really liked the 150-gal head tank. Before I got that tank, I used an old SS milk tank that held 200 gal and before that my head tank was 415 gal. I liked the smaller tank because it kept the concentrate fresher. If I for some reason was not able to finish all sap, I wanted it kept as sap, not concentrate.

[Pdiamond]

You'll get better than fifty, I get that with the 2 x 4.

[TapTapTap]

I'm planning on installing 500 taps (400 on Sap Saks + 100 on 3/16" gravity) for the 2023 season. I'll be boiling on a Smoky Lake Maple 2' X 6', wood-fired, AOF, raised-flue Silverplate evaporator rated for 78 GPH. I don't expect to get to 78 GPH, however I am hoping to get to 50 GPH.

May sap collection from the trees will be manual (human powered) into (3) 275 gallon IBC totes. One tote on my FEL will be swapped out for the one on the 3/16" gravity line. The other two totes will be filled with sap from the Sap Saks.

Building a temporary sugarhouse? An 800 gal tank as one suggested will weigh in at nearly 8000 lbs. That sounds like a lot for a temporary loft.
Ken

[tcross]

i have similar amount of taps, however they're all on 27-28 " of vacuum. i have a 250 gallon head tank, however i try to only have no more than 100-150 gallons in it at a time. my sap stays much cooler in my main tanks than it does in my head tank... thus the reason i like to keep it only half full, max. i have a 2.5x8 raised flue that averages between 65-70 gph.

[OrangeAgain]

Any reason why I should NOT use a 275 gallon IBC tote for a head tank?

[tcross]

that's what i use. just make sure to wash/rinse it out after each use. preferably right after you're done using it!

[OrangeAgain]

that's what i use. just make sure to wash/rinse it out after each use. preferably right after you're done using it!

Do you mean before and after the season?

[tcross]

no, i rinse it out after each boil. in the beginning of the season it's not a huge deal as it's usually fairly cool over night. but later on in the season when it's warmer, things sour quickly!

[darkmachine]

no, i rinse it out after each boil. in the beginning of the season it's not a huge deal as it's usually fairly cool over night. but later on in the season when it's warmer, things sour quickly!

I agree I wash my all my tanks every time I empty them, it's improved my syrup quality. I even haul water to the tank I have under my releaser and rinse. If you have an RO, some permeate and a single purpose mop will do the trick.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I apologize, I read head tank but was thinking bulk tank for some reason :rolleyes:

With our setup we are looking at a 300G head tank for concentrated sap but never expect it to be full. Could get by with less, maybe 200G but prefer to be oversize. You can use the totes, they are just tougher to clean. And you will want to rinse with hot water after each use in my opinion, especially if concentrated sap is in it.

[bmbmkr]

I'm running 800 taps on a 50 gph 2x6 Raised flue. I've been using a 100 gallon head tank for the last few years. (Started out with 150 gal, but downsized because I needed that tank elsewhere and the smaller one is that much easier to clean.) I have my RO set up to pump concentrated sap to the head tank, I get 1 gpm of concentrate, and the evaporator goes through 0.83 gpm. When the head tank gets a little over half full, (an hours worth of boiling reserve), I can flip a handle on a 3 way valve and run concentrate back into my dairy tank for about 15 -30 min where it can pass through the RO again. I like to keep at least a half hours worth in the head tank for safety. When I get ready to shut down, I quit firing and am ready in an instant pump 5-10 gallons of permeate to the head tank if the evaporator takes a while to cool off. Running AOF/AUF really helps cool her down pretty quick, but those fire bricks hold a lot of heat. Sap will simmer for half hour or more after the fire is out.

[Maple River Sugar]

If you have power in your sugar house you can utilize a smaller head tank with pump which can draw off of whatever large storage container you want to use. In our house I off load the truck into my 600 gallon or 375 dairy tanks. From there I utilize a pump on a float switch to fill my 75 gallon open head tank. This feeds a 2X8 with a preheater. By using a smaller head tank is beneficial as in less weight to support, frees up a larger container for excessive capacity, pressure on the float is less. Our first boil this last season I had 1100 gallons to process. I started the RO and pushed the concentrate into a open top tote, once i had about 90 gallons I pumped it into the head tank and right into the evaporator. From there the RO maintained the evaporation rate. My .02.

[TapTapTap]

I would be thinking long term and select the tank for your realistic end game. And that all depends on the number of taps and RO capacity. Since you indicate in your signature that you're working on a temporary sugarhouse then I think an open top tote is perfect. If you're working towards a more permanent setup then I'd select the capacity and get an open top SS round bottom. The loft area is typically custom sized and it's a lot cheaper to spend $1000 now than to completely modify the space later and then spend the grand.

[maple flats]

Whichever head tank and other tank or tanks you decide on, to make the best syrup you must clean each tank soon after it's pumped out. Even your remote tanks too. I used to carry 3 IBC totes on a 16' gooseneck trailer, 2 for sap, and one had permeate (the water removed from sap by an RO) in it. After I emptied the woods tank, I turned the pump around, pumping permeate from the tank on the trailer and thru a 3/4" hose/spray nozzle and I rinsed the tank I had just emptied. If no RO, thus no permeate, just potable water will do OK but once you get an RO, use permeate, it is so pure it wants to take up anything it can from the tank being cleaned.
I only had a 250 RO, which needed a 500 gal permeate tank, but I had a 1000 gal SS tank for permeate, thus I had plenty for washing tanks. Each tank got "rinsed" soon after being emptied. At the sugarhouse I used a 3.3 gpm 120V diaphragm pump, and a potable water hose to do the task. The pump pushed permeate thru my tankless water heater, then thru the hose. I just had to be sure to not shut off the spray nozzle with the pumjp still running or the hose could burst. Don't ask how I know that, (but it made a loud bang when the hose burst, sounded like a gunshot) Fortunately it just blew the hose off at the first fitting on the water heater, I only had to cut off about 5", and install a new hose end.