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Thread: Bulk storage

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
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    MN
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    415

    Default Bulk storage

    My brother found some 55 gallon latex barrels with the removable lid at a recycling facility and they want $12 per barrel, apparently they were used once and they once held ketchup, is it worth the purchase? I'm looking to be producing about 750 gallons of syrup next spring and need bulk storage.

  2. #2
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    Jan 2006
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    Sugarhill NH
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    Nothing beats a ss barrels for storing syrup. 55 gallon
    30x8 Leader revolution, wood fired blower, steamaway/hood. 903 taps all but 54 on pipeline and 3 vacuum systems. Hauling sap this year with a 99 F350 7.3 diesel dump and of course back up is the Honda 450 and trailer.

  3. #3
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    Feb 2005
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    Fulton, NY
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    Will you be selling bulk, or keeping it all at the sugarhouse? I don't think any kind of plastic barrel transports well, or would be "pickable" with a skid steer attachment. I vote for stainless as well.
    Tim Whitens
    Willow Creek Farm
    Fulton, NY

    3000 on vacuum, 3hp 3ph Busch pump, 2567 Gast
    30X8 Leader oil-fired evap. w/ steamaway
    Airablo 1000 RO
    6 Alpacas

  4. #4
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    Feb 2016
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    Peru, Maine
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    I'm not sure how rugged those barrels you are looking at are. But the operation we work for has around 40 of the plastic CDL barrels that use the poly liners. Those barrels aren't available any more but the bags still are. I think they are 40 gallon. Packers prefer stainless, IMO because they sell them but they are probably easier to empty. Point is nothing wrong with plastic if thick enough but like anything stainless is probably best.

  5. #5
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    Jan 2012
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    MN
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    As of now I plan on keeping all the syrup to bottle and sell but I'd like to have the option if it came down to it where I can do either or. The barrels my brother found are steel barrels but have a latex liner on the inside, he said they were once filled with ketchup, I thought of buying plastic bladders the supply dealer sells and use them for a year or 2. I totally agree with you guys on stainless but right now it a money thing and the supplier I get all my equipment from never has barrels on hand because they move them so fast. Just weighing my options. Thanks guys!

  6. #6
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    Jan 2006
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    Sugarhill NH
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    If you are storing 750 gallons of syrup why would you buy as barrels from a local dealer if it fit in the budget. I would go straight to the manufacture and buy direct. It seems you would need a tractor trailer load for yourself.I am one for eliminating the middle man when I can.
    30x8 Leader revolution, wood fired blower, steamaway/hood. 903 taps all but 54 on pipeline and 3 vacuum systems. Hauling sap this year with a 99 F350 7.3 diesel dump and of course back up is the Honda 450 and trailer.

  7. #7
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    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
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    If using 55 gal SS barrels for 750 gal syrup, that only a little over 13 barrels, hardly enough to make a tractor trailer load. While new steel barrels lined with latex and then using a food grade liner might be OK, barrels from a recycling center has no guarantee the barrels have not been contaminated with something else, I'd shy away for that reason.
    In case you do end up selling some bulk, contact a buyer now (or more) and ask them what barrels they will accept, we can guess all day long, but with tighter controls all the time, only the buyer can answer the question, and that answer will only be "as of today", it might change tomorrow.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

  8. #8
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    Dec 2005
    Location
    Knapp, Wis
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    There is a bulk buyer here in Wis that really frowns on plastic barrels. When I have been there, I have never seen one around. (hint, hint) I once asked, while not flat out saying they wouldn't take syrup in them, it was quite clear they were looked down on. Any plastic barrel I would throw in the burn pile!! One that had ketchup in......even more. (I hate ketchup BTW, i mean corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup that is called ketchup).
    Mark

    Where we made syrup long before the trendies made it popular, now its just another commodity.

    John Deere 4000, 830, and 420 crawler
    1400 taps, 600 gph CDL RO, 4x12 wood-fired Leader, forced air and preheater. 400 gallon Sap-O-Matic vacuum gathering tank, PTO powered. 2500 gallon X truck tank, 17 bulk tanks.
    No cage tanks allowed on this farm!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Wausau, Wisconsin
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    15

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    I received a letter from a bulk buyer here in Wisconsin just recently that starting next year will only accept bulk syrup in NEW latex coated barrels. Syrup in a previously used barrel will not be accepted. Additionally in the next year or two they anticipate only accepting syrup in stainless steel drums. Nothing noted yet if stainless barrels can be reused.
    2000 tap average
    4x14 Lapierre Hurricane

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Knapp, Wis
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    Quote Originally Posted by SugarHill View Post
    Nothing noted yet if stainless barrels can be reused.
    Would be quite a stretch to not be able to reuse even stainless drums. Many producers would simply go out of business if thats the case. Good riddens!
    Mark

    Where we made syrup long before the trendies made it popular, now its just another commodity.

    John Deere 4000, 830, and 420 crawler
    1400 taps, 600 gph CDL RO, 4x12 wood-fired Leader, forced air and preheater. 400 gallon Sap-O-Matic vacuum gathering tank, PTO powered. 2500 gallon X truck tank, 17 bulk tanks.
    No cage tanks allowed on this farm!

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