Evaporator Set-up for 50-60 taps.
I have a oil barrel evaporator as seen in the picture and was thinking of upgrading next season. I average roughly 5 gallons per hour, maybe 6 or so. If I am getting 30-55 gallons a day I find that I am evaporating up to 18 hours a day, and I have a full time job. Any reasonable priced recommendations out there. Thanks and have a good season.
Reasonable is pretty relative. How much are you looking to spend? Any chance of expanding in the near future? What matters more cost or time?
Pete Nightingale
Lisbon, NH
3 Teenage sap haulers & Plenty of friends and family to restock the beer fridge
2012 1 tap and a pot
2013 10 taps, oil tank evap, 2 gallons of slightly too thin syrup
2014 48 taps improved oil tank evap 3.5 gallons, ouch??
2015 88 taps 78 5/16" and 10 3/16" nat vac 40"x 48" Homemade Arch 13.25 Gallons
2016 100 taps 65 on 3/16 & 35 buckets 17 gallons + unknown amount of maple / Jack Daniels testers
Maybe make a little RO unit? That would cut your boil time substantially. You can build a small one that will process 120gpd for around $350
1st year - 6 taps and a turkey fryer and 1 gallon of syrup
2nd year - 12 taps, turkey fryer and another gallon of syrup
3rd year - 45 taps, new propane setup and 5 gallons of syrup
If time is most important then you may want to consider a small RO. I was in a similar situation where I was spending too much time boiling and using more fuel then I wanted. I built a small RO for about $400 and it reduced my fuel and boiling time by 60% without having to upgrade my evaporator and making the same amount or more syrup.
Maple Rock Farm
www.Maplerockfarm.ca
400 taps on Vacuum
18”x60” Lapierre propane evaporator with Smokey Lake auto draw off
Homemade 3 post RO with MES membranes
Ford TS110 tractor sap hauler
Yes mini R.O.s seem to be the way to go, to reduce boiling time and not get a bigger arch and pans.
A good used 2 x 6 evaporator should get 20-30 gallons of sap boiled per hour too. Price could be $500 to $1500.
Regards,
Chris
Casbohm Maple and Honey
625 roadside taps + Neighbors bring some sap too!
3x10 King, WRU, AOF and AUF
12" SIRO Filter Press.
2015 Ford F250 PSD sap hauler
One Golden named Maggie, Norwegian Forest Cat named Lucy
Too many Cub Cadets
Ford Jubilee and several Allis WD's, and IH tractors
1932 Ford AAB ton and a half, dump truck
www.mapleandhoney.com
image.jpg
I have thought about making one of these. I have a leader half pint evaporator and get maybe 7 gph out of it. I bought used for $700 and had about $200 of fire brick to put in it. I think a small RO might be the way to go.
2011-2013Homemade evaporator
55 gallon drum with hotel steam pans. Evaporation rate 2.5 gal/hour
14 taps on buckets
2014 used leader half pint evaporator
20 taps on line, 24 taps on buckets
12x12 shack for the 2014 season
1000-2000. most i can expand to is 60-70 taps. time is also important as i have 3 children and work 40-50 hours a week.
But are they hard to build? I am not too technologically sound!
do you have pics of your RO? that may be ideal if they are easy to build.
Try this site out. It's one of the members on here. He does a really good job describing the how to's. I built one and love it. I'm at 40 taps and have the same work/family life situation.
https://sites.google.com/site/mattat...essmaplesyrup/
Hope that works.
SDdave
It's not the size of the tree...it's what inside that counts!
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