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Thread: The Midnite Boil

  1. #11
    lpakiz Guest

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    You can figure about gallon per hour per square foot with a flat pan. That's if the guy feeding the fire is the same guy who cuts the wood. If you have a pyromaniac brother-in-law, he might get 1 1/2 gallons per hour per square foot.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Rockford, IL
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    175

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    I must be a pyro. Lol. Burning off more than 1 per sq ft.
    2020
    8th year making sugar
    120 taps second year on vac

    2x4 Divided pan.
    Homemade RO 4x42XLE
    Shurflo 4048 pump

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    Evansville, IN
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    105

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    Quote Originally Posted by TreeTapper2 View Post
    Im thinking about 2x4 or 2x6 flat pan. Thought about drop flue but my boils are two far apart I think and my boils usually arent that big. Need to see how this year goes. Going to add 30 more taps.
    TreeTapper2,

    If you are going to 60 taps and thinking you might add more, I'll recommend getting a 2x6 drop flue pan. I went from 18 taps my first year with 5 steam pans and I love the fact that I can now boil 60 gallons in about 2 hours (actually less so there's some left for the cool down). I purchased them from Smoky Lake and they are some cash but it depends what you are planning to do with this (addicting) hobby and how much time you have to boil.

    Good luck with the rest of this season.

    --andrew

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Rockford, IL
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    175

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    Thanks for the insight Kiteflyingeek. What do you do with the syrup in the flues when your done boiling? What is the boil rate of your pan?
    2020
    8th year making sugar
    120 taps second year on vac

    2x4 Divided pan.
    Homemade RO 4x42XLE
    Shurflo 4048 pump

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Derry, NH
    Posts
    34

    Default With apologies to Longfellow...

    Listen my children and I'll tell you
    Of the midnight boil of TreeTapper2
    In two-oh-fourteen on the twentieth of march
    Starting a boil in homemade arch
    He asked MapleTraders, "How about you?"

    (sorry - couldn't resist with that thread title....)

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Plymouth, WI
    Posts
    398

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    Quote Originally Posted by SlopYourDripper View Post
    Listen my children and I'll tell you
    Of the midnight boil of TreeTapper2
    In two-oh-fourteen on the twentieth of march
    Starting a boil in homemade arch
    He asked MapleTraders, "How about you?"

    (sorry - couldn't resist with that thread title....)

    Hey Slop, that's good, I like that.
    Now, back to the subject. We custom built our new 2x6 arch and put our old Smokey Lake pans on it. This is our 3rd year using them. They consist of a 2x2 syrup pan and a 2x4 V-flue sap pan. With our new arch we have AOF and AUF and we are getting 30 GPH. Our next upgrade will be a SL regular flue pan. They are nice pans plus it's nice to be only an hour away from Jim.
    Last edited by WI Sugarpop; 03-23-2014 at 08:38 PM.
    150 on 3/16 gravity 2018 and 120 sap sacks
    14 x 20 sugar shack
    2014 New custom 2x6 arch "The Firestorm" w/ preheater, AUF & AOF
    Smokey Lake pans and water jacket bottler
    2024 new 2x8 set of drop flue pans and hood from Smoky Lake. Lengthen our arch.
    Just a hobby but seems like more work every
    year
    3 generations working together
    Wife that guards our syrup
    43.74° N

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Evansville, IN
    Posts
    105

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    Quote Originally Posted by TreeTapper2 View Post
    Thanks for the insight Kiteflyingeek. What do you do with the syrup in the flues when your done boiling? What is the boil rate of your pan?

    The drop flue that Jim at Smoky Lake Maple Products makes has a drain on it. But during the season, I just leave the partially boiled sap in the drops until I boil again. Unless we have temps below about 20*F -- then I drain the pans. Raised flue pans also have some kind of drain on them for the same reason. But in reality, you don't have to drain it very often.

    With as short of a season as I had and as crazy as it was for me to get a shack built before I started to boil, I don't have real accurate numbers for boil rate. But it was somewhere around 30gph if I fired every 7 minutes with 5-7 pieces of wrist size wood. That is hard to do if you are also pumping sap to the head tank, checking syrup density, getting more firewood, drawing off syrup, helping kids with homework, etc. But if you can have a fire stoker, it's a little easier to manage all the other tasks AND keep the pans ROCKING.

    Let me know if you have more questions. I'll share what I know having run these GREAT pans for one season.

    --andrew

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Illinois
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    128

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    Quote Originally Posted by featheredcoyote View Post
    no real sign of buds yet but has warmed up considerably, still supposed to freeze again in next few days but i've been boiling my backside off and don't have really proper equip will procure a good evaporator before next year. I'm considering a waste oil burner, any thoughts on that?
    That might be a wise choice if you have good steady access to waste oil so that you will have plenty to get you through the season. I am glad to be rid of my fuel oil burner though


    IF they are not budding, and the syrup is good, the sap should clear up after the freeze.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    128

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    the midnight boil does not bother me. IT is that 3 pm to 6 AM boil that gets me down.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Barnet, VT
    Posts
    2,580

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    Quote Originally Posted by featheredcoyote View Post
    no real sign of buds yet but has warmed up considerably, still supposed to freeze again in next few days but i've been boiling my backside off and don't have really proper equip will procure a good evaporator before next year. I'm considering a waste oil burner, any thoughts on that?
    Check your state rules. Here in VT it is not legal to boil syrup with waste oil.
    William
    950 taps
    3 X 12 Thor pans on a Brian Arch
    CDL 600 expandable

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