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Thread: Tapped trees on Friday 1/16

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Holts Summit, MO
    Posts
    119

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    I have a setup similar to Goggleeyes except mine is much smaller. My flue pan is a raised flue meaning the pan has ribs that are raised from the bottoms of the pan to increase surface area. The sap in my flue pan runs about 8" deep and therefore needs a float to control the level and 1" deep in my front pan. The front pan is a normal divided pan and the syrup is concentrated in the last section, when the temperature hits my set point the auto draw off opens. Check out my photobucket for more pictures.



    20150124_220331.jpg 20150129_112039.jpg 20150129_112048.jpg 20150129_112110.jpg
    Last edited by skinny78; 01-29-2015 at 01:54 PM.
    Matthew
    Highly modified Leader Half Pint with Smoky Lake 2 x 4 Raised Flue
    14' Grain Bin Sugar House
    152 taps on 3/16 tubing
    MES Dolly 100 RO
    Homemade filter/canning tank with an electric water jacket
    Kubota RTV 1100
    http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/j...Maple%20Syrup/

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Puslinch, ON
    Posts
    59

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    Googleeye, it looks to me like you are stinging 5/16 tubing, is that correct? How many trees to you connect on each run? This is my second year with gravity tubing and my first doing it with good tension on the 5/16 line. I am planning on about 20 trees per line and I have about a 2% slope in the line. The ground itself is dead level as it is a red bush in wetland. Do you have any words of wisdom?
    Bob Harris, @puslinchbob, since 2009
    400 taps in 2 very flat red maple bushes
    2 Sapguzzler vacuum pumps each with 200 taps
    30" x 96" Smoky Lake Silver Plate with pre-heat and auto drawoff
    Bombardier Traxter XT fitted with tracks pulling 400 litre tank

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    SE Missouri
    Posts
    289

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    Quote Originally Posted by randomseeker View Post
    Googleeye, it looks to me like you are stinging 5/16 tubing, is that correct? How many trees to you connect on each run? This is my second year with gravity tubing and my first doing it with good tension on the 5/16 line. I am planning on about 20 trees per line and I have about a 2% slope in the line. The ground itself is dead level as it is a red bush in wetland. Do you have any words of wisdom?
    Buckets and slave labor (kids)?! I thought I had it bad. I don't know what I'd do if I was in the flat lands. All of my runs have at least a little slope to work with, and I have anywhere from 5 to 35 taps on a run, and collect into 55 gal barrels. As long as you could get the lines in with a bit of a slope, it should work, though. Just start as high as you can on your 1st tree and go from there, keeping that line TIGHT. How far apart are your trees, and what are you collecting in to? Reason I ask is that 20 trees per line wouldn't give you much drop unless they're real close. I use semi-rigid line, but you may want to go with rigid so you can string it a little tighter. I don't have much more to offer. Hope whatever you try works.
    Now I have an outdoor hobby for all 12 months. Like I need anything more to do
    About 1000 taps on gravity tubing, MicRO2 RO, 2.5 X 8 Leader King, and a 1953 Willys Jeep to run around the maple woods with.
    http://www.gihringfamilyfarm.com/

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    Pay close attention to how you string the lines. Basically in your situation you are running lateral lines with no mainline. A mainline is usually a larger tubing like 3/4 inches. Lateral lines run from tree to tree to tree and then into the mainline. Here is a link to a diagram one of the moderators made on the forum a little while ago that I stumbled upon that shows how to run lateral lines. http://mapletrader.com/community/att...9&d=1422479169. The moderator did clarify that in the yes column that the right string is incorrect. The tubing should wrap around the tree like on the left lateral. Also run the complete lateral from tree to tree to tree keeping good tension. There are these end fittings called "end it rings" that you use at the last tree in a lateral to keep tension on the whole lateral. You attach the end of the lateral to the nipple opposite the ring and then wrap the tubing around the tree and route it through the ring. Then run the tubing to the rest of the trees in the lateral. Use the slide on the last tree to tighten the whole lateral. See the picture. The drop line attaches to the other nipple. After you have the whole lateral in place go back and put in the drop lines using the "T" connectors at each tree. The drop lines should be something like 30 inches long and should not have any tension on them and they should attach to the "T" at the nipple that is at a right angle to the other two. Also do not attach laterals together. Each lateral should go directly into a collection container. I am no expert. What I wrote there is what I have learned so far. Good, luck.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by RiverSap; 02-04-2015 at 09:36 AM.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    Very nice set up Skinny. I went to your photobucket images and looked through them. How did you make that home made float on your previous setup. My setup is exactly like that only I do not have a float. I would like to make one like the one in your picture.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Holts Summit, MO
    Posts
    119

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    I have made several floats, some by welding up a box of very light stainless and the round one was soldered. Not an easy task and on my new setup I see that the floats are made with a hollow stem that let the float expand and contract with the heat, that solves a big problem with making a perfectly sealed float. I also found the a float in the boiling sap will sometimes be held up by the boiling or foam so it is best to use a float box and then you can use about any kind of float as it will never get hot. The float box does need to be where the sap is added or else it will fill up with junk and get very dirty. Just make it like my current setup is and you will be good to go!
    Matthew
    Highly modified Leader Half Pint with Smoky Lake 2 x 4 Raised Flue
    14' Grain Bin Sugar House
    152 taps on 3/16 tubing
    MES Dolly 100 RO
    Homemade filter/canning tank with an electric water jacket
    Kubota RTV 1100
    http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/j...Maple%20Syrup/

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    Float box will be a task for next year.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    hills west of Jeff City Missouri
    Posts
    134

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    skinny, ray, riversap, goggleeye, things are going well near jeff city. we dont collect every day, only when we've had good conditions and before it might spoil. collection on sat feb 7, we got a lot of ice in the buckets and pitched most of the ice. weve collected 435 gallons so far since jan 16 and made 10 gal syrup. its getting darker and richer flavor with each batch. looks like presidents day weekend will bring some good flow days. these 60 deg days after a frosty night have been great! goggle, you might be the most southern producer on the continent? i've never heard of maple syrup from ark, tenn, ga, al, but maybe there are. will try to schedule a visit to you after sugar season if thats ok? john
    2020: 220 trees, most smaller than 20" diameter, made 25 gallons
    remote location in western Cole County
    5/16" plastic spiles, drain into plastic buckets or sapsaks
    haul sap out of woods using atv & trailer
    wood-fired pans on concrete blocks
    one Leader Half Pint 24 x 33" plus 24 x 30 ss pan from a junkyard
    cook batch process then finish in the kitchen;
    we dont sell our syrup; its for family & friends
    see website www.mosyrup.com

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Florissant Missouri
    Posts
    137

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    I had my first boil this past Sunday. I cooked down about 85 gallons of sap to around two gallons of finished syrup. It is really good to get in that first boil of the season. I had a couple of buddies over for part of the time. They brought beer. Beer is always welcome during an all day boil. It does make collecting the buckets on the steep Missouri river bluffs a bit more challenging. Goggleeyes I would like to come and see your operation as well. Let me know when a good time would be. I posted a few pictures in my photo album area.
    Last edited by RiverSap; 02-10-2015 at 06:46 AM.
    Crazy River Sap
    55 sugar maple, 15 walnut taps on plastic buckets and tubing
    Block arch on driveway

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    SE Missouri
    Posts
    289

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by uncle john mid mo View Post
    goggle, you might be the most southern producer on the continent? i've never heard of maple syrup from ark, tenn, ga, al, but maybe there are. will try to schedule a visit to you after sugar season if thats ok? john
    There are a few in KY & TN that are farther south, and a couple more here in MO, but not many. I know we're supposed to be at the southern end of the range here, especially in the southern part of MO, but I've averaged over 1 quart of syrup per tap every year but 1, and this year we've already produced 1 qt per tap - hoping (at least I am, not so much my wife who is locked in the sugarhouse) to get 1/2 gal per tap! We should be at about 125 gallons of syrup by days end.
    My problem is wood. We ran out of seasoned wood at about the 100 gallon mark. Now I'm out looking for every dead standing tree on the farm!
    John - We'd love to have you visit. We don't have anything that grand (The wife nixed the idea of a Force 5.), but we like it, and it works for us!

    Mark
    Now I have an outdoor hobby for all 12 months. Like I need anything more to do
    About 1000 taps on gravity tubing, MicRO2 RO, 2.5 X 8 Leader King, and a 1953 Willys Jeep to run around the maple woods with.
    http://www.gihringfamilyfarm.com/

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