Evaporator and arch size

[John Nord]

My son has been making a small amount of syrup the last couple years. Two or three gallons a year. This summer he wants to build a small (12' by 16' ) sugar shack with a wood fired arch for boiling instead of using the turkey fryer pots and propane. He is tapping 25 trees at this point and has the possibility of tapping 50 trees maximum. I'm thinking a 2x3 flat pan should handle all the boiling he will have. Question is this. Should he be staying with a 2x3, or is a 2x4 a better choice. Building a barrel or fuel barrel arch will be used to fire the pan. He will never go over 50 taps. Thanks for any opinions or ideas.

[tcross]

with the potential for 50 trees. i'd say go with a 2x4.

[Vtmbz]

In the history of sugar making, nobody has ever “stopped at 50 taps”! ��

[John Nord]

Well he won't be able to go over 50 taps because he'll be out of trees. Unless he taps and hauls from my house a couple miles away. He's not doing this for monetary gain, it's just fun to do. Just don't want to build to big of an evaporator for the amount of sap he has to boil. He built a small RO this year which worked great, just a little small.

[jrgagne99]

2x4. you and he won't regret it.

[Wannabe]

In the history of sugar making, nobody has ever “stopped at 50 taps”! ��

He's not wrong.. :D

[ebliese]

My first year of sugaring with an actual evaporator was a 2x4-Smoky Lake Corsair Arch (natural draft) and 2x4 divided pan. I had 50 taps. That worked out quite well. Boils would usually be four hours and under. For me, I find four hour boils to be my max.

Would your son be using the RO he built at all?

[John Nord]

Yes, he's been using the small RO unit he built. I still don't understand how that works but it does and it amazing how it pulls the water off. Making syrup is a lot of fun for sure. Leaning towards getting a 2x4 pan at this point.

[Andy VT]

In essense RO is a fine filter. Too fine for sugar molecules to get through because they're larger, but not too fine for water molecules to get through, which are smaller. That's all it is! A fine enough filter that it takes quite a bit of pressure to get it through.