Thanks for the tip Dave! Checked in with Bill and he agrees to raise the front up to the 2" below the pan mark. I'll take care of that when I mortar.
Thanks for the tip Dave! Checked in with Bill and he agrees to raise the front up to the 2" below the pan mark. I'll take care of that when I mortar.
OK now really done bricking.
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It will become very obvious how that helps when you boil, you will see a very hard boil over that partition. It will be the hardest in the entire pan. Much of the heat causing that would have otherwise gone up the stack.
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.
That is just how my half-pint is bricked. You will like boiling with that rig.
2016 - helped at afriend with a small operation, 300+ taps. = hooked
2017 - 20 taps @ home, 1 gal @ home on propane, then hauled to friends operation
Bought a whole shack locally, with a Leader 1/2 Pint, moved it home
2018 - 50 taps, 9 on 3/16 gravity and 41 pails -14 gallons of good sweet stuff
2019 - 27 taps, 17 on 3/16 gravity and 10 on pails - 12-3/4 gallons of good sweet stuff (most fun I've had with this hobby)
Hope everyone is having a great, albeit dry, summer so far. I was surprised to see some new posts.
I have had an issue with my rear pan (of three) not getting hot till the fire has been going a while. This partition might be a good idea to get it hotter faster. I'll put it on the fall list of things to do!
Good luck Aaron with your new set-up. Looks great.
Two 2x4 concrete block arches with three steam trays each
Tapping in Mount Vernon since 2016, 30 to 70 taps, 5/16" tube to 1.5 to 3.5 gallon buckets, some trees on collective gravity tubing to 5 gallon buckets.
Mostly sugar maples, a few reds on 200 year old homestead
The next piece of advice is to never use a damper on an wood fired evaporator smoke stack and give it loads of combustion air. A blower help with that. An evaporator works best when it burns as hot as you can get it, but be sure to never run low in the pans or you will burn them. A good starting depth is about 2", but after you get familiar with that gradually start reducing the pan depth until you get to 1-1.25". Then don't leave it unattended and keep an OH $#!T bucket of sap or potable water ready if things get away from you.
Keep it fun!
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.
Got the carport (a.k.a. woodshed & sap storage building) set up today. The instructions that came along with the free carport were for a totally different model so that was a bit of excitement. The back and front walls were useless so I’ll be getting creative on coverings for those. Next step is to build a box out of pallets for the back end next weekend – should be able to hold about 3 cords of wood. Pallets are free and I have nails, a hammer, and a circular saw so total cost so far is about $10!
My tree count is growing. The friend’s place I was hoping for 9 has loads and loads of sugar maples right on the edge of their lawn so I’m increasing my tap goal to 50 for next year, and seriously considering RO as a result.
So two questions today:
Just how big of a storage tank do I need if I’m planning to boil on weekends? I’ve read I should be planning for a max of 2 gallons per tap, 4 times a week… so should I really be thinking in the 400-500 gallon range? There’s room in the carport for 2 of the IBC totes if that assumption is realistic.
On RO ratings, I’ve seen some postings for 100 gph rated RO units that have my attention – is that generally a sap processing rating or the concentrate produced? The RO bucket might be enough to use “in-line” but it might be worth the extra spending this year to think larger RO and cut down the boiling time and have room to grow.
Well… I’ve become a full addict spending every minute of free time scheming and building my beginner maple empire. Dad and son pitch in quite frequently so we have a multi-generational team working on the future.
Got the carport/woodshed in place and spent a few days on the chop and table saws cutting the 2’ 4x4 untreated post ends into 11 1/2” x 1 ½” pieces. The right side is almost full so about 1.5 cords of three cut so far. Changed the interior design putting a doorway behind that center post to accommodate an IBC tote elevated by a 4 x 4 platform so I can put a 5-gallon bucket under the spigot (my first “deck” building experience!) and still get a wheel barrel up to the wood.
I have new respect for the cost of pressure treated wood. So far all the wood was free off the scrap pile at my sons work, but had to buy some at Depot for the gravel base frame which went in last weekend. But, based on the treating codes, my son was the treater of that wood so we kept it in the family. Stone coming tomorrow and compactor rented to finish off the pad. Small 8x14 sugarhouse plans purchased and that will be next year’s family project so the pad is for that.
Also on this weekend’s the plan is moving the garden and compost pile and taking out a couple small trees to allow for a driveway right up to the site this weekend.
Then need to move the arch to the site and mortar the bricks, sticking to the overall plan of getting the arch in place by the end of September. Just going with a 10 x 10 vendor tent this year to keep out of the weather.
October plan - Once the frost hits and the poison everything dies off I’ll need to work on thinning the woods to get better access to the trees. And cutting more wood until the carport/woodshed is filled.
Some pics of the progression:
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I did have a quick question though. Should I put a door in the front of the deck there so the sap is inside vs exposed? That's what the concrete footings are for, and I can rig something up with the door piece that came with the carport. It wasn't in condition to hang like it should normally, so I was thinking of making a wooden/removable frame to hang it once the winter hit.
Last edited by Aaron Stack; 09-17-2020 at 04:08 AM.
750-1000 gallon tank, plastic tanks hold bacteria so, it will reflect the syrup quality. I would go with stainless holding tank and use the plastic for a transport tank. The sap is like milk, it sour. Keep it cold. I think a week is to long to store sap.
Blaisdell's Maple Farm
started on a 2x2 pan in 2000 and now
custom built oil fired 4x12 arch by me
Thor pans Desinged by Thad Blaisdell
4600 taps
How are you making out? Trying to decide to build a brick arch or weld one for my new to me pans.
2012 4 taps and a bunch of propane
2013 12 taps and a new home made 1x2 flat pan fit to an old wood stove, more propane
2014 40 on tube flowing down hill to a 1x2 and 3 steam pans on emergency arch. (Drowning in sap)
2015. New 2x5 flat pan and much better arch. 1x2 on new rocket stove ( this thing cranks, can't wait to use it) 60 on tubing into 250 gal tank. 6 on buckets just for comparison and a little extra!
2016. Not a good year with the mild weather winter.