Our first rigs

[DaveB]

This afternoon while tending my evaporator (a 3x6 set of pans on a brick arch), I was recalling what I started with and that I should count myself lucky. I still don't have a sugarhouse, but I'm planning on building one later this year.

When I started (in 1990), I only had the Backyard Sugarin' book that I think many of us has read as a guide. I built an outdoor fireplace out of cement blocks and put a galvanized (brand new) wash tub on it. I had a coffee can feeding it and it didn't work very good. Took all day to boil down like 25 gallons of sap. I improved it the next time but I knew I needed something better.

The next year I moved up to a propane fired burner setup and a large kitchen pan. Worked great. I'd recommend this setup to anyone wanting to try it for the first time. I think I added a third burner the next year to preheat (& melt ice) sap before going into the pan.

If it hadn't been for the maple fever, I would have been happy with that setup and we slowly started adding more over the years.

While I'm not a full blown professional, I'd like to think I've progressed. I'm wondering what others started out with.

Dave

[Russell Lampron]

I started with a wash tub and cinder block arch. I did it that one year when I was in high school somewhere around 1973 or 1974. I tried it again in 2000. That year I had 28 taps and used a roasting pan on a gas grill. The following year I moved up to the 2x6 that I have now and had 300 taps. The demand for the syrup grew and the bug bit harder. Four seasons ago I bought an RO machine and added more taps. I now have 400 taps on tubing, 200 of those on vacuum. I also have about 150 buckets.

Take a look at my pictures. I will be adding more as the seasons kicks in.

Russ

[gmcooper]

In the mid 70's while in jr high I made syrup a couple years on wood stove. Made a few gallons each year. Then in 88 we made 5 gallons on the woodstove here in the house. 1 Month later we bought an old 2x8 vermont evaporator and built a 12x18 sugarhouse. We had about 350 taps for 89. Think we made 60 gallons that first year. Few years later we bought a new King 2 1/2x 8 and used that till maybe 2004 when we bought new King 3x10 that we have now. I think it was 04 when we added a 16x24 addition on the sugarhouse.

[super sappy]

My grandpa jerry encouraged us to sugar,he told us how but did not show us.we came up with garden hose for taps , plastic buckets from the vegestable farm for buckets and grandma Ro,s galvanized washtub for boiling on cinder blocks. -I was may be 10 or so and we all sat down to a pancake supper with sausage and eggs. I can remember that like it was yesterday. later that year Jerry took us up to Rupert VT to our hunting camp and those guys had real sap buckets and everything. A couple of years ago I met Nelson Green who was the guy who tapped all the trees along Lang road at that time. Funny thing is he still looked the same 25 years later any way I got the bug. I have made syrup on a oil fired half pint to the kitchen stove and a cake pan, to a brand new 2x6 maple pro raised flu and i am truly blessed-ss

[tapper]

1996 I started with 6 buckets. Boiled on the back porch with a coleman gasoline cookstove to start with. In the 1st week I visited a local sugarmaker he sold me 20 or 30 more buckets real cheap and let me borrow a never used amish made 2x3 pan with 3 compartments. I made an arch out of a barrel and before seasons end had an 8x8 shack directly out my back door. I used an old cookstove out of a camper for a preheater. Made 8 gallons that 1st year.

Before the end of that year I picked up a 10 year old leader 2x6 and used it for 10 years. I bought 300 buckets and spiles a supply tank,transfer pump,300 gal gathering tank,wagon and other sugaring stuff from a neighbor for 700 bucks and had a 10x16 sugar shack for that season also.

[jdj]

In 1990 my grandfather got my father and I to start sugaring. I was 11 at the time. We built a small sugarhouse, my grandfather had some old tanks, buckets, covers, spouts(500) and a 3x9 leader evaporator that had a single flat bottom english tin pan(pretty primitive). In 2000 my grandfather passed away, my father and I decided to keep on making syrup. In 2002 we bought a new leader 3x10 with welded american pans, filter press, canner etc. In 2003 we built an addition on our exhisting sugarhouse. In 2006 we purchased a steamaway(3x6). Each year we take the money from our syrup sales and buy equipment. We've also purchased a couple of tractors over the years for the business, tanks, more buckets, covers, spouts and an additional sugarbush aswell. I think we have improved our operation considerably but it takes time, lots of $$$$$$ and a lot of hard work which is all worth it in the end. Next purchase: Pipeline with vacuum for '09.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

That's a good way to do it, slow and easy and not get over your head right off the bat. That way you learn as you go too!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

if the facts were known i bet most of us dump our [ profits] right back into the company.

RICH

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

and our losses too! LOL

[Russell Lampron]

Profits! What are those? I think most of us smaller producers do it because we like to and don't plan on or expect to make money at it. Unlike some other hobbies where you get no return from the money you spend, with sugaring you can get enough back to expand and buy new equipment.

Russ

[Jim Brown]

I started in 1963 with 30,two gallon oil cans and a 2x4 flat pan on concrete blocks and slab wood. Made enough for the family and sold enough to help with school clothes. After marriage the kids came along we still boiled on concrete blocks and a new washtub and had about 50 tapsthe kids helped out and began to learn.Made syrup with my father-in-law for a few years and then lost interest after his death(25 yrs ago) . My cousin called four years ago and said he had some of my Grandfathers buckets in his basement and we should get together and make a little syrup.I had 12 of Grand Paps taps in my garage and said why not!Well we started with a new D&G 18"x66 and after one season my cousin backed out and I was on my own. Sold the D&G back to the dealer bought the 2x6 the first year,added steamaway and vac to 350 taps second year and leased 150 acres of trees,add RO and Vac to all taps this year. Grown daughter owns land were 350 are tapped plus 40 buckets and she and her younger brother(USAF 18 1/2 years) are now full partners and share the love and joy of making and selling syrup and all that goes with running a business.
I am truly blessed with a great wife who supports this maddness and a son and daughter who will some day carry on!

Jim

[TapME]

Jim, nice to see the younger generation keep the tradition going. You must feel proud of them. Next time you see you son tell him from me "thanks for serving in the military".

[Jim Brown]

TapMe; I will be sure to tell him. I forgot to mention that our oldest son who choses not to be a part of the business has 22 years in the Air force and is stationed in Germany with his family

Jim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I started out about 20 years ago when I was a teenager with a 2x3 stainless flat pan on cinderblocks in the yard. I always erected a pole shed with clear plastic covering roof and sides and sometimes blue tarps. It worked good and I put it up and took it down every year. I went out in the woods and cut 4 white oak poles for the corners and dug holes and set them every year and made a couple of makeshift trusses. I was about 13 or 14 when I started and just upgraded from there. Amazing how things change over the years. I have a 5 year old son and a 2 year old daughter and hopefully in a few years they will be able to help. It is a big inconvience living almost 30 minutes from the sugarhouse, but there are no sugars to be found and hardly any red maples in the area I live. Guess you do what you have to do.

[RileySugarbush]

I don't recall what instigated this, but when I was about 12 I pounded a piece of aluminum tv antenna rod (thin rolled aluminum tubing ) into a young maple and put a coffee can under it. Since it only penetrated about an eighth of an inch, the result was a meager wet bottom of the can with a few bugs. I recall it did taste vaguely sweet, but not enough for me. I dropped the idea for 25 years, until we took my young son out to the local Arboretum and he drilled a hole and set a tap during their annual maple event. We bought 6 taps and sak holders, and that year I boiled in a shallow steam table tray on a Charmglow grill. It took forever.

From there I started working up my block arch culminating nine years later in the flue tube system some of you have seen on the trader. The most memorable event was when the old concrete slab it it was sitting on exploded violently from the concentrated heat under the fire. Scary.

Last year we bought some pans and built a 2x6, moving indoors. It just gets better every year, and you guys are part of the reason!

[andrew martin]

I started out with ten taps and buckets in 2004, boiling on the kitchen stove with three large stockpots. I think we killed every plant in the house. Next I went to 35 taps and used a 5 gallon pot over an open fire. That did not work very well, and I still managed to kill a plant or two. the next year, I used a cinder block arch and a 2x4 flat pan. Worked pretty well until the cinder block stack fell over into the flat pan while the sap was still boiling. Made good syrup that year and only killed one plant. Last year I bought a used 3x8 raised flue (got a great deal!!) and tapped 240 trees. Didn't kill any plants. THis year we finally finished our sugar shack and had 375 taps. It was a great year until I ran out of jugs. Hoping to make 100+ gallons next year. My wife was very pleased this year because I finished and canned everything outside.

Andrew

[Sugarmaker]

I can't take credit for starting into this syrup thing on my own. My family had been making syrup for a long time before I cam along. Uncles were in and out of syrup making for years. My dad set up a cinder block arch with some old cast doors on the front and a 3 x 4 foot flat pan that was a black as my hat and some kind of stack?
I was about maybe 10 years old and he asked me to watch the fire. The sugarhouse was a old low roof converted chicken coop and it barely kept out the raw rain and wind. I remember the sizzling of the wet slabs on the fire and the rolling boil of 4 inch deep sap. Ahh, what a sweet smell.
Dad ran out and checked on me once in a while between milking cows and dumped in another bucket of raw sap from the old galvanized gathering tank. I was allowed to stay up late and play with fire! It doesn't get much better that that when you are a kid.
We had to draw off by tipping the pan very carefully with the syrup going to one corner. Not sure how he finished it from there? I was hooked and havent been able to shake it yet. We had maybe 200 buckets in a sugarbush across the road from the farm. We had a trailer that we hauled through the woods with our WD-45 Allis and the mud and ruts were deep but oh was the cold sap sweet:)

Now I probably enjoy going to others sugarhouse about as much as anything. Trying to prod others on in this never ending but enjoyable hobby. Especially when their boiling and I'm just watching and visiting.:)

Good post! Brings back a lot of good memories.

Chris

[sweetwoodmaple]

Learned about sugaring from a friend at church after noticing the primary trees in my yard (including two 30"+ "twins") were sugar maples.

I started in 1999 with a 2 x 4 and cut barrel arch with 40 taps and milk jugs. I won't quite break 500 this year, but close. I stopped keeping track after spending about $5k. Boy, that was a while ago!!!

Brandon...not to rub it in, but :-)...not only is my sugarhouse 150 foot from my home, but I can see the house from most of the 500 taps. I think only Dave Y has me beat there as he taps in "downtown" Marienville!!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You guys are so lucky. Oh well, I am just thankful for what I have but it sure would be awesome to be 5 minutes or less from the sugarhouse, in my back yard, I can't even dream that big. LOL

[gmcooper]

Brandon,
Not to rub it in but from my computer desk i can look out the window and see my evaporator thru the sugarhouse window. About 50' away. My trees on the other hand most are 4-8 miles away.
Mark

[andrew martin]

I'm with you cooper, my evap sits in my backyard which I can see through the kitchen window. "My" trees are a ten minute drive. I own none of the land, but the people I rent from are always happy to get fresh and real syrup. Gotta love it. I would love to get to 500+ taps someday, have a bigger sugarhouse and actually make a profit on this. I have come out ahead so far this year.

Andrew

[Pete33Vt]

Chris, your right these post bring back alot of memories. Lets see I started when I was around 7-8 yrs old. I used to grandpa Sniders house for the whole week of school vaction. Didn't play around with the rig but helped out in the bush setting up lines. I did this for many years. When I was about 10 I set out 11 (buckets) anything that would hold sap. These taps were about 1/4-1/2 mile from the house. OUt across the hay field. I would go everyday and gather with my sled (not snowmachine either) saved that sap for days until I had about 40 gallons. Then my dad help me set up my rig and old drawer out of a fridge. Set it up on cinder blocks and used and old grill grate to hold it all up. Had a few wooden palettes setup as a wind break. Well wind took the whole thing down. Dad was at a fire call so no help around. Another uncle came up and sprayed the whole thing with water. Well dad got hoome and we fished out the tub. Dad finished it up in the house. He made a 1/2 quart of the thickest syrup I've ever seen. Move up to boiling on a 40x14 quite a few years latter. To running the operation I have now. This time of year gets me thinking of Grandpa and my beginng. Grandpa past on last year during sugaring. But his memories live on.

[maple flats]

I started when the kids were young with a couple of stock pots on the wood stove and 6-8 taps on box alder plus 3 taps on sugar maple. It rarely would boil, but would reduce down eventually before we finished it on the stove. Way too much moisture in the house. This was like in the 70's, then in 2003 I got a half pint, set it up on the patio and had 69 taps. When I really worked hard to push it I got 7 gal/hr but that was real rare, averaged closer to 5/hr. In 04 I got a 2x6 and got from 23-25 gal per hr and went up 120 taps. I was now in my new sugarhouse, even if it was not fininshed it was a vast improvement. In a 16 x 24 sugarhouse I had no floor yet, so I built a platform that was centered over the pit that was to become my evaporator foundation, and just supported this off the surrounding rough grade. I had to re level the floor daily as the frost came out of the ground, but this was still much better than out doors. The next year I built a full wooden floor for my evaporator which was attached to the pole barn type supports that was the sugarhouse, and poured the footer for the evap. and laid blocks up to support the evap. I didn't have the funds to pour the floor but I had a sawmill to cut the lumber needed so this was a big improvement. The next year I start pouring cement in sections as time and funds allowed but still had a partial wooden floor. In summer of 06 I got a 3x8 raised flue rig, poured more cement and now I boiled at 70-75 gph. for 07 on 425 taps. This season I poured more floor, (about 80% done now) and I think I will stay at 3x8 and as i grow add an RO. This maple bug has gotten me bad. I have 500 taps for 08 and have a bush that i can now add as I get the urge and can process, up to about 1000 I think. I could then add vac and am setting up with vac in mind.

[Dave Y]

Well since I have been implicated i this thread I will chime in. I started in 2003 in my garage with a 2x 2flat pan and a couple of gas burners. and 12 taps. Before the season was over I had 56 taps. Steamed off 12 gal of syrup. 5yrs later I am the "maple barron" of Forest Co. Penna. :) And not to one up anyone ,but, I walk out the Kitchen door in to the sugar house!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

I am 150 fet from my sugar house and my fartherest tap is 1200 feet from there. makes it nice to be able to walk out back and there it is

RICH

[davey]

about 10 years ago my wife who is a travel agent was away on a trip and we had a major ice storm in our area. My yard trees were shattered and the sap was just pouring out of them. so rather than tapping, I just stuck empty milk jugs over the broken branches and tied them on with string. although we had no electricity, the gas stove still worked so I boiled down the sap and made almost a whole 1/2 cup of syrup. i was hooked, the next year i bought a couple of taps and cooked it on the stove and did ok, but my wife wasn't very excited about it. so then I built an outdoor boiler using a big old galvanized water tank that I cut holes in the for a small pan, an oil burner from my old water heater and a smoke stack. this worked ok, but was very slow. Next i took an old motor driven wheelbarrow, removed the engine, bricked it, made a frame for a pan on top and mounted the same oil gun and bought a 2x3 flat pan and actually moved into the old barn. this worked good but only boiled about 10 gph. Additionally, one time I got a flat tire and scorched my pan. Eventually I bought a 2 1/2 x 8 that I converted to oil and am still using it today. One of the milk jugs that I tied to the tree is still up there. It looks like a bird has been living in it.

[Sugarmaker]

davey,
Love the bird living in the milk jug :)
Chris

[RileySugarbush]

I love the cooking in a wheelbarrow. That about takes the prize!

[HHM-07]

DaveB

I was raised on a dairy farm so sugaring was always a part of that,Much more labor intensive back when i was a kid, didn't think it was awhole lot of fun then but seems like it is now ,my job took me away from the farm so didn't do any sugaring agian until last year when we retired. Now even cutting the wood is enjoyable sounds weard but is true. By the way this thread is one of the most interesting one's that i have read enjoyed it THANKS

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

OK, OK, OK, you guys give me a break.

I do have one up on you, I made 13 gallon of syrup today from 640 gallons of sap, beautiful light amber. None of you that are giving me a hard time can say that!

LOL! LOL!

[sweetwoodmaple]

Ouch....

I just finished tapping this evening (in 9 degrees).

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

Well here is my story. I first made syrup in maine growing up I barley remember it) on a wood stove in the house with 6 taps.. I moved to VT in 2000 and was boared in the spring of 03 so what the hell. I made 1 gal off of 4 taps and a turkey fryer.. Then in 04 I baught a 2x4 vermonter used, cost me about 500 bucks for the arch, pans and stack. (man I was big time then) Then in 05 I baught a 4x10 leader with a tin flue and a stainless syrup for $900 and looking for trees , (I sold the 2x4 for $960) I rented 400 taps of the most unhealthy worst piped trees I have ever seen. I made 35 gal. (man I was in big) In 06 I built a new sugarhouse for the 4x10 and made 100 gal off of 600 taps in the same bush until a pan had a melt down.. In 07 I got used stainless pans (front and rear) for $900 and made 100 gal from 1000 taps.. Here we are, this year I rented a new bush with 4500 taps on vacum, baught a 500 gal/hr RO, filter press, and tanks and pumps.. I will finish this after the season..

Andy

[Big_Eddy]

I have been syruping almost my whole life. When I was 4 we moved from Australia to Canada in early January. Next fall my parents bought a house on 4 acres in the country. The guy they bought from tossed in about 50 taps (10 of which were hollowed out twigs) and said "the trees with yellow paint on them are maples - you should make some syrup in the spring" . Being all new to this Canada thing - my dad said "sure- why not" He got a book from the library and bought a big aluminium turkey roaster and he was off. Probably did 25 trees that spring and never kept up with the sap flow at all, as he had the roaster on top of the pot belly stove and would boil off about 1 gal every 12 hours!

After a few years, we picked up a huge old cauldren - about 4' across and 2 1/2' deep, and we used that for years. We would make a tripod out of 6" poles and hang the cauldren over a fire on a big old tow rope. We could adjust the height by twisting the rope up a bit tighter. We'd pour sap into that thing every day for a week, just keeping the fire going day and night. We made some wonderfully dark syrup those years. I still remember the year we set the whole dang thing on fire after about a weeks worth of boiling. The tears flowed that night.

Up until I left home, that was essentially the solution we had. We did syrup just about every spring and always made enough to last the year. All the trees were red maples, growing on the low ground by the river. I have fond memories of the spring we had to collect sap in a canoe when the river rose about 4' and flooded out the sugar bush.

When my wife and I bought a house, we had a few huge sugar maples in the backyard and another 10 or so along the road in front. That first spring I borrowed 10 taps from dad and we boiled on the barbecue. Made enough to get by and enough to hook my wife as well. (She had helped back home as well feeding wood under the cauldren. ) That winter my parents bought a 2x3 flat pan for themselves and the same for us. That's what I have been using ever since.

We've now been doing 80-100 trees a year for the last 15 years using that 2x3 pan on an outdoor concrete block arch. We make 50-75 litres of syrup each year, much of which would be light or medium. Normally collect 60-80 gals of sap a day, and boil 24 hours a day from friday through monday, in 100 gal batches, with at least one extra batch during the week.

We sell a bit to friends, give a lot away to others as gifts, and keep a hungry family of 4 boys bouncing off the wall all year long.

This is just a hobby for us, but it makes a wonderful spring tradition. As said earlier - there is nothing better than playing with wood, fire, mud and water early in the spring. Certainly my favourite time of year.

One of these years I will end up with a true evaporator, but so far our 2x3 flat pan has served us well.

[DougM]

Our first rig we built in 2000 from concrete blocks and two flat pans we got from my Grandfather. I think we had about 10 square feet of area total. I think we used that for two seasons, starting with 15 taps and ending with 30.

Version 1.5 of that was the pans from a “real” evaporator on the cinder block arch until we got the metal arch rehabilitated enough to use it. I think we used that half a season or so, still about 30 taps.

Next was a real step up for us, an the ancient but half rebuilt 2.5x10 wood-fired Leader. We used that for three years and went from 30 to about 100 taps.

Now we have a gas-fired 2.5x8 D&G raised flue rig. We’re up to 130 taps with room to grow, but we’ll have to see if we have the extra time available to do more.

[lpakiz]

I was working on the deck in early April 05 and walked back across the yard to my shop with a cordless drill and a 3/8 bit. I said, "I wonder if there is any sap in these (16-18 inch) trees" which we transplanted from the local ditches when we built the house in 76. They were like broom handles the first year. So I plunged the drill in. WELL--sap POURED out. I wondered how it would look dripping from a tube, so I rustled up a piece of 3/8 copper tube and inserted it into the hole. Hey, not bad. I wonder how much is running out?? "Honey, do we have an empty ice cream bucket?" Sure enough, by mid afternoon, I have about 3 quarts. HMMMM--How much more of that copper tubing do I have? Drilled about a dozen more holes. WOW lotsa sap!! Now, I am too frugal to waste this stuff, so I comandeer one of my wifes aluminum cake pans and set it up on the gas grill next day. By evening, I have a syrup cup that is full and a propane cylinder that is'nt. I said "Next year, I need to make a wood burner to heat this stuff--propane is too expensive at this rate". Thought about it over the summer and fall and in late winter, I make 3 SS pans 2X3 from the SS overwrap off a semi-tanker. I invented a stove from 8-inch I beams to set the first pan on and sold the other 2 to my buddy to cover all my expenses. Made about 15 quarts of the best maple syrup I ever tasted. I boil out in the yard about 50 feet from my back door. If the pan is getting low, I run to the front of the house and grab a few ice cream pails full off a tree and dump it in. Last year I tapped about 2 dozen more trees in the neighbors, about a 1/2 mile away. I collect these on the way home from work and dump in a 55 gallon barrel or 2 with food grade liners in them. These barrels set in the cold part of the shop with a home made stryofoam octagon shaped insulater jacket around them, with stryrofoam lid. They keep ice all week. Weekends are for boiling. I admit I am hooked. Never had so much fun with my clothes on!
Larry

[Sugarmaker]

WOW some one on here actually makes syrup! Great job Brandon that sound identical to our first run, but we made medium grade.

One of my child hood memories related to maple was that I was crazy about ponies and horses I had a small team of half welsh half tennessee walkers. These were just Big stout ponies Full brothers a year apart. My grandfather built me a nice two wheeled cart that I was going to put a gathering tank on and drive the team to collect sap that next spring. I was about 15 - 16.
The team was as green as me and I took them down in the field hooked to the cart to just practice driving. They had never been hooked as a team but I had broke them to drive single. Of course I didn't take anyone to help! When I turned them towards the barn all heck broke loose the younger one reared up came down on the back of the other horse and fell over the other horse upside down while we were still making the turn. Needless to say the cart end up upside down and smashed into a hundred splinters!
I gathered sap with dads pick up truck a 1959 Ford 1/2 ton.

Chris