Proper Tapping?...Drill Bits and Drilling

[jcr1709]

Great Group Here. Totally new to this. Intend on installing 20 taps. Using Leader hookless tree savers 5/16" and plastic 4 gallon buckets to hang on them. Picture attached of spout. Just trying to do things as correct as I can the first time and do appreciate everybody's expertise and help. I hope I'm not getting too deep with these questions!

1. Is there anything special about the drill bit....5/16" I'm assuming, can I get any bit from a big box store?

2. How deep do you drill...just enough to fit the tree end of the spout into the tree or do you drill deeper?

3. Is just a slight upward angle ok, or is there some more exactitude required?

4. I see many here concerned about bacteria....is the drill bit cleaned before using in any way?

5. I saw a video of tappers blowing out the excess wood chips from the drilled hole...is ok and required?

6. My spouts are new from Bascoms....should I clean/sanitize them before use?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

1. Is there anything special about the drill bit....5/16" I'm assuming, can I get any bit from a big box store?

A stanard 5/16" bit will work fine, just want to make sure it is a good sharp bit and hold the drill nice and steady so you get a nice round hole

2. How deep do you drill...just enough to fit the tree end of the spout into the tree or do you drill deeper?

I drill about 1.5 to 2 inches into the tree after you are through the bark. Spout will only go in about 1/2" to 3/4"

3. Is just a slight upward angle ok, or is there some more exactitude required?

Slight upward angle is fine, nothing technical. Probably between 5 and 10 degrees.

4. I see many here concerned about bacteria....is the drill bit cleaned before using in any way?

Wouldn't hurt to clean it good with alcohol before tapping if you are concened.

5. I saw a video of tappers blowing out the excess wood chips from the drilled hole...is ok and required?

You are introducing bacteria into the hole blowing anything into it. Probably not going to hurt much blowing it out with a pressurized air can but if you use the drill and bit properly, won't be that necessary with a good sharp bit

6. My spouts are new from Bascoms....should I clean/sanitize them before use?

They are new and should be fine, but wouldn't hurt to wash them good with some warm some and water and rinse them good. Might be an oily film on them or other substance since they are aluminum

[red maples]

I bought a canadian tapping bit 1. they're stainless, 2 they are very sharp, 3. they leave the hole nice and clean no wood chips. but they are $20 thats the down side.

don't blow into the hole the human mouth is really a germ investation!!! you don't wwant that in the hole.


sorry jrc1709 just want to add a few questions

I have a question about sanitizing the bit though...even if you use an alcohol wipe on the bit it has to go through the bark on the outside of the tree so wouldn't it just pickup bacteria as well?

Is there a good tap hole sanitizer that has been prooven that it works, and what types are used hole are they applied?

[Homestead Maple]

I bought a canadian tapping bit 1. they're stainless, 2 they are very sharp, 3. they leave the hole nice and clean no wood chips. but they are $20 thats the down side.

don't blow into the hole the human mouth is really a germ investation!!! you don't wwant that in the hole.


sorry jrc1709 just want to add a few questions

I have a question about sanitizing the bit though...even if you use an alcohol wipe on the bit it has to go through the bark on the outside of the tree so wouldn't it just pickup bacteria as well?

Is there a good tap hole sanitizer that has been prooven that it works, and what types are used hole are they applied?

As far as a tap hole sanitizer, Dr. Perkins has recently responded to this question on another thread and said that it is not beneficial. Check the recent posts by Dr. Perkins and you can find the info about using tap hole sanitizers.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

And today at a workshop, Mike Farrel from Ulein (Cornell's program at Lake Placid) recommended disinfecting the drill bit between taps...go figure!

[Bucket Head]

Disinfecting the bit for each tap? Cornell does it this way?? Intresting.

Steve

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

He didn't say they did it that way.:lol:

[KenWP]

Far as I can find out a Canadain tapping bit is only available in the US. GO FIgure.

[HHM-07]

My 2 cents i think we are going overboard on a lot of this stuff handling it like we were a hospital then run our sap tru RO and bring it down to 20% and no one wants our syrup, i find that folks are looking for the syrup that we use to make , including syrup made with a wood fired rig

Dick

[Homestead Maple]

The person that designed the Force 5 evaporator was at the New Hampshire Maple Producers annual meeting yesterday and gave a talk on his invention. He mentioned something about evaporating with wood and how it produced a better flavored syrup. I wonder why that is?

[paul]

Dick I hate to disagree with you, but we squeezed the heck out of our sap last year. couldn`t tell you what the sugar content was because the hydrometer wouldn`t stay in the cup, but we had our highest sales this year and made close to 2gallons of syrup to a gallon of fuel. Our best season ever quality and quantity. And thats my two cents

[DrTimPerkins]

In side-by-side identical evaporators we produced syrup from sap that had been concentrated to 2%, 8%, 12% and 15% and the following year at 8% and 20+%. There were essentially very few chemical differences in the syrup. A taste panel (of experienced sugarmakers, packers, regulators, and researchers) could not detect any flavor differences in a blind study. Short story....RO does NOT adversely impact flavor.

[Amber Gold]

At Bellows Falls, I was hoping to go to the presentation on the affects of using an RO and the quality of the syrup, but missed it due to a conflicting presentation. Is there a paper/study on this topic?

[Dill]

I asked Tim Wilmot about sanitizing the taphole at this weekend's school. He said that alcohol is a drying agent which won't help sap yield, so just drink it, don't spray it in the hole.
However it maybe beneficial with the check valves but that is yet to be tested.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Amber Gold,
I saw Dr Wilmont's presentation on effect of RO on syrup flavor/quality in Vernon earlier this year. Long story short....no effect. whether boiling raw sap, 8%, 16%, 20%. Blind taste test with experienced maple tasters (buyers etc) couldn't tell the difference.
Oops, I see he already has presented the info

[maplecrest]

i went to that presentation. the questions that cant be answered for me in that study were time issues at 20 plus percent.1 time from tap to drum. proctors sap sat over nite.sap that is r/oed and boiled as fast as possible have different flavor? no contact time. 2. use of air injection? 3. heating of sap in muliple passes thru r/o to reach 20 plus percent? 4. the effect of large r/o,s with one quick pass to 20 plus percent and speed thru evap to drum.sugar water? so the public calls it.very light in color and no flavor.i felt that this study was not researced in the field before the research center.to say no difference in taste is only with the data they have with the purchased sap used in experiment between 8% and 20% on two different but the same evaps.

[argohauler]

My 2 cents i think we are going overboard on a lot of this stuff handling it like we were a hospital then run our sap tru RO and bring it down to 20% and no one wants our syrup, i find that folks are looking for the syrup that we use to make , including syrup made with a wood fired rig

Dick

I would say marketing would influence the buyer. Nostalgia also.

I know a small producer that has his own gas well. People have tried it and then keep coming back to me bacause I'm wood fired. I find people like the thought of less technology as well. The thought that buckets are more nostalgic than pipeline.

Mass marketing of products can go along way. Bi-colour sweet corn is trumped up as the best corn there is and now I find, as a market gardener, that's what everybody wants even though there's equally tasty yellow and white corn. Also now Black Angus beef is being marketed as being the best there is.

I find there is a big push from the consumer right now for darker syrup because it has a stronger maple flavour.

[Dill]

You completely correct as to the marketing.
The black angus push baffles me, but consumers are convinced its better. I'd be annoyed if I was a hereford producer.
The push for darker has more flavor has been picked up by the cooking shows, and since mine comes out dark I'm fine with it.
I haven't seen the corn, but since I don't sell sweet corn that's fine. I can tell you with "horse hay" it just needs to be green. Most buyers don't care what's actually in it or what the nutritional content is as long as its a pleasant green color.

[KenWP]

As long as it's a cow it's beef. I raised Herefords my whole life and they tase as good as a angus or whatever. I have to say that my syrup tastes better then the light stuff. Even the one batch of buddy syrup out tastes light.
The RO dosn't affect taste except that it makes basically tasteless syrup. If I want tasteless I can buy corn syrup pretty cheap.