RB25 Kit

[ebliese]

Does anyone have any experience with the RO Bucket's RB25 Kit? Just looking for some general feedback. We are going to 100 taps (on buckets) for next year and I don't want to have all day boils on the 2x4 divided pan. We were at 50 taps (on buckets) this past season and had about four hour boils. However, keeping in mind expansion, we may be up to 200+ taps in the next few years. The RB25 Kit is rated for 150+ taps. It costs $685 per the website.

Thanks

[fred]

they works great and the videos are spot on and very helpful. i have several kits in stock near cleveland.

[Z/MAN]

I have 100+ taps and last season I purchased a RB20. It cut my boiling time in better then half and the same with the wood supply. I also get longer draws with the higher concentrate sap. The RB20 does about 15 gallons an hour which stays ahead of my 12-13 gallon per hour boil rate. It takes 2% to 4%+ with one pass. Very simple to use and maintain. Great customer support with questions answered very quickly. I highly recommend it to anyone.

[DairyVet]

Can’t speak to that kit specifically but the RB10 I used last year was great. The owner of the company is very friendly and responsive via email with any questions you have before the sale and tech support after.

[steve J]

I bought the RB25 kit last winter. It was easy to assemble and they are great to deal with. Also I averaged 58 gph which was higher than they had stated. It double my sugar content on one pass and again on a second pass. I boil on a 2x4 supreme pan and tapped 110 trees. I could easily handle more taps.

[Biz]

I have two RB15’s. One has been used for 2 seasons, one for 3. I have run thousands of gallons through them and they are pretty bulletproof. I only do one pass most times, removes half the water. Last season they saved me over 50 hours of boiling time.

Dave

[buckeye gold]

I have 100+ taps and last season I purchased a RB20. It cut my boiling time in better then half and the same with the wood supply. I also get longer draws with the higher concentrate sap. The RB20 does about 15 gallons an hour which stays ahead of my 12-13 gallon per hour boil rate. It takes 2% to 4%+ with one pass. Very simple to use and maintain. Great customer support with questions answered very quickly. I highly recommend it to anyone.

What is your total time investment from starting the RO to shutdown. Let's use 100 gallons of sap as our number. At 13 GPH of raw sap that calculates out to 7.7 hrs. What is your total time investment FRom the moment you start the RO until you shutdown? don't you have to run at least an hr or two worth of sap through the RO before you can start boiling? That hour or two should add on to total time invested.

Just trying to understand the value of an RO for someone like me who has time to boil. I'm retired and I have all day to boil.

[wobbletop]

That hour or two should add on to total time invested.

Just trying to understand the value of an RO for someone like me who has time to boil. I'm retired and I have all day to boil.

The difference is the RO can be left unattended while it's doing it's thing. I sometimes have it run overnight so I can start boiling when I want in the morning.

[tombaisley]

If you have all day to boil, get an RO, tap more trees, make twice as much syrup. I have an rB25, I had 300ish taps and made just about 50 gallons of syrup on a Mason 2x4XL last seasn

[Z/MAN]

What is your total time investment from starting the RO to shutdown. Let's use 100 gallons of sap as our number. At 13 GPH of raw sap that calculates out to 7.7 hrs. What is your total time investment FRom the moment you start the RO until you shutdown? don't you have to run at least an hr or two worth of sap through the RO before you can start boiling? That hour or two should add on to total time invested.

Just trying to understand the value of an RO for someone like me who has time to boil. I'm retired and I have all day to boil.

Being a few months past the season I can't give an exact total time investment. You are right ,I do run the RO about an hour to get some concentrate to get started. I don't lose the whole hour though because I have one mainline running into my garage that will usually give me enough raw sap to start the RO and it will sit there doing it's job while I am out collecting the rest of the sap. I usually collect my sap in the late afternoon after the day long flow so I will usually boil in the evenings and the RO helps keep me from really late night boils. I'm also retired but 2 years ago we had some crazy flows and I spent 4 or 5 days in a row boiling 10-12 hours into the wee hours of the night. That was taking the fun out of it. I only have a 2x3 but I get a fantastic boil rate out of it because I run all cutoff 2x4s and 2x6s. I get all I want for free so I run it extremely hard. This extreme heat has caused me problems with things melting, warping and just plain wearing away. I have noticed that a lot of these problems are the result of really long boils at extreme temperatures so the RO helps me there with the much shorter boil times. Also take into consideration you will be using HALF the wood, that is a big savings of time and work right there. I always said I wouldn't use an RO but finally took a good look at the RO bucket and the fact that I have yet to hear one sugar maker say they were sorry they bought one. Most say they would never boil again without one. I highly recommend it.