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Hey guys I was just wondering if you knew how much wood it takes to evaporate sap. I will be using a cinder block arch with 4 steam table pans. I will also be using hardwood. I was just wondering if you guys had a chart or something tellin how much wood it takes to evaporate a certain amount of sap.
Thanks mr. Red maple
There are many variables but a rule of thumb is 20 gallons of syrup per cord of wood using unconcentrated sap. So at 40 to 1 you could boil approx. 800 gallons of sap per cord of wood. A block arch is not the most effiecient so I would go more with 10 to 15 gallons of syrup per cord, so 400 to 600 gallons of sap. Try to have at least 2 years worth of wood before each season so you don't run out and have to sump sap.
On my evaporator I get 23-25 gal of syrup/cord if running 2% sap. A block arch, depending on design and such might get 8-12 , maybe less. On a block arch there's far too many variables to guess closer. Is it insulated, what is the height under the pans, is there a front door of some sort, do you have it built with a stack? There are many other variables too.
I would get as much as possible whatever you don't burn this year you will in future years. I haul home anything I can find every trip home from work. I have approx 4 cord pine 2 cord hardwood 125 pallets and 100 various boards 2x4, 2x6... I try not to burn hardwood I can sell for $. If you burn a cord you could sell for 250$ and are making 8gallons with it that's 30$gallon including nothing else. If you burn pallets and junk wood it will cost a few dollars a gallon. I don't have 100 acres so to me firewood is a commodity.
My advise is worry less, enjoy the time more. Not all hard woods are created equal. Sassafras and catalpa are hard woods but very light even white pine is a better source of heat. Cut as much wood as you enjoy cutting and boil till the wood or the sap runs out.
I can make about 15 gallons of syrup for every cord of softwood slabs on my 3 x 10.
old timers say 15 to 20 gal syrup one cord of wood hard or soft wood I dont know, all natural no air.
Interesting thread as I am currently stock piling my wood for this spring’s boil. I almost got caught in my calculations with US and Imperial gallons. Conservatively I should get 10 gallons of syrup for one full cord of wood. When converting that to litres per full cord, you have to remember that it is US gallons and that is only about 3.8 litres per gallon vs about 4.55 litres for an imperial gallon. So conservatively, it is about 38 litres per full cord. I likely at best will have 22 litres of syrup, so that will be .58 full cord or 1.7 face cords. I will stock pile one full cord or three face cords and that should be plenty. I will put my driest wood first up.
If my cinder block arch is more efficient than 10 gallons per cord, I obviously will use less wood.
For your wood remember to split it smaller to get a better burn. I have to re-split once or twice my fireplace firewood for use in the evaporator.
I was just resplitting my firewood today in near 40° C (104° F) humidex weather. I also built a wood rack near the evaporator to stack it.Quote:
Originally Posted by aamyotte
Some of the wood I will burn tomorrow in my evaporators first test water boil.
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The only thing I did in this heat is cut the grass this morning then jump in the pool. I saw your other post about test boil. It must have been crazy hot.
I posted this before on another thread, but this is the thread where it belongs, helpful for planning with a cinderblock evaporator.
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