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Thread: 2022 Go big or go home!

  1. #1
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    Jan 2013
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    Default 2022 Go big or go home!

    2021
    http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...-Can-I-improve

    So... I haven't stopped thinking about sugaring since I stopped last year.
    I ordered a new pan from Silver Creek, to replace my warming pans. Part of the reason is I felt like I was losing too much heat out the side, even with bricks lining the edge of the grill http://www.maplesyruppans.com/index....&product_id=93

    This baby fits right over the 3 "turkey" burners, I am SUPER excited to try it out.

    I also after going back and forth for months, got an RO bucket, the RB10. I only expect to have 40-50 taps this season and most likely at MOST 75 in the next 5-6 years.

    I just got my order of glass and taps (and a couple metal tins) for the season and I think I may this weekend, start cutting some drop lines. It is still too early around here to tap for sure, but I am itching to start getting things ready.

    Last season I ended up with about 145 OZ total which was awesome. This year I am hoping for 3-5 gallons. I also am going to make candy again, and I think i am gong to take some down to granulated sugar. I have always wanted to do that. Hey next Christmas, sugar cookies can be MAPLE sugar cookies!

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    NOTES
    1) Note to self, until I can figure out how to hook up 2 tanks at the same time, need to swap out tanks every 1.5-2 hours.
    2)When precutting drop lines, put the taps in one end, in the house when cutting them. Will make it much faster in the bush.
    3)After washing out buckets at end of season, make sure they are all dry.
    4)Re-hook up trailer as soon as tank is drained
    5)Heat tape for Ball valve?

    Things to buy for next year
    FILTER PRESS!!! MUST
    65 gallon tank MUST
    Sap Hydrometer
    Syrup Hydrometer
    Trailer Stand
    40 gallon Propane tank
    Hand-truck
    Finishing pan for on stove? (with some kind of drain) or coffee pot that goes up to 190 but big enough for filter inside?
    2x55 Gallon drum for sap and permeate? (will have a 35 for concentrate if I get the 65 gallon tank)
    Last edited by TheNamelessPoet; 02-28-2022 at 12:46 PM. Reason: Adding Notes
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  2. #2
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    Jan 2013
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    Well, put 30 buckets in, yesterday 2/6 (probably 35-40 taps total) I am going to get my Evaporator all set up tonight in the garage so all I have to do is pull it out tomorrow night and ill be ready to go! Should be a decent run the next few days. Going to get the RO going at the same time and try and take care of both at the same time. I would like to do a little boiling in the pan with regular sap before I start with concentrate, just to figure out how it goes. Plus what I don't get done tonight I can save for tomorrow and have the RO going while I go collect. I am thinking I will probably be about 1 day behind until this weekend. I am thinking of RO'ing up to 8% 1- 5 gallon bucket. I want to boil that down separate, to see how it comes out on it's own and if the taste is off or it is spoiled. I am curious about it but I do not want to mix it with the rest just in case. I suppose I could do one bucket 1 round through for 4% or so and try that separate also.

    Actually 30 Gallons of sap RO'd should take about 1.75-2 hours to get to 4% so if I can figure out how to have

    This year is a trial and error year. Might as well see how everything works out in different scenarios when I am expecting so much more syrup than I had last year.

    I am thinking of selling it next year, if things work out this year.

    Notes for next year: When precutting drop lines, put the taps in one end, in the house when cutting them. Will make it much faster in the bush.
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Tolland, Ct
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    2/9 update.
    I collected between 8 and 9 gallons last night. 1ish from my house, the rest from a friends. Not enough to RO, BUT enough to try out the new pan!. Boiled it down to about 10% (1.25 gallons). I should have gone probably 10-15 minutes longer, just so I could get it into the 1 gallon container, but I don't want to burn the pan. Not to mention the propane tank was starting to freeze too much and the boil had died down quite a bit. Note to self, until I can figure out how to hook up 2 tanks at the same time, need to swap out tanks every 1.5-2 hours. I think I am going to add all my notes for next year, into the 1st post, so I remember them lol. I don't want to miss any of them.

    Felt great to get the pan boiling however. Took about 7-8 minutes to get it really boiling which I think was pretty good for the 1st boil. The warming pan is AWESOME, and I like being able to open it just a little and not have to add every once and a while to the main pan. Keeps the boil more steady, and I can just fill that pan when it gets to about 50%. It holds a TON which is great! Not overall happy with the boil itself, as it is definitely uneven, but I will get that sorted out here.

    I forgot to note that my concentrate, is in the fridge. I did that last year. If I can get it down to 2 total gallons, I can keep it in the 2 glass jars I have in the fridge for a day or 2. I might freeze some straight sap in the chest freezer so I can drop it into the buckets on Friday. I won't be able to boil tomorrow so I should actually have quite bit Saturday, and can use my RO!
    Last edited by TheNamelessPoet; 02-10-2022 at 09:12 AM.
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2021
    Location
    Ma
    Posts
    54

    Default

    TheNamelessPoet, can you tell me a little bit about your set up. What type of propane system are you running? I have a Smokey Lake 2'x4' 5 burner hobby evaporator hooked to a 125 pound tank. I hope not to have to deal with the freezing issue but one never knows as this is the first time I am running this.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Tolland, Ct
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    Well, I can tell you, I let the flames go wild and almost froze my measly 20lb tank Wednesday after about 2.5 hours lol I'll take some more pictures tomorrow while the RO is working. I don't know why but I can not get here OR imgur to accept my pictures. Ill figure it out.
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Tolland, Ct
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul01036 View Post
    TheNamelessPoet, can you tell me a little bit about your set up. What type of propane system are you running? I have a Smokey Lake 2'x4' 5 burner hobby evaporator hooked to a 125 pound tank. I hope not to have to deal with the freezing issue but one never knows as this is the first time I am running this.
    This is the grill I have. 3 Turkey Fryers basically, 75k BTU's each.
    http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...581#post379581
    I just got a fan that fit's it perfectly.
    Here is the pan I just got http://www.maplesyruppans.com/index....&product_id=93
    I have 3 20 lb propane tanks that I rotate every 3 hours or so to keep them from freezing, though I had it CRANKING way to high Wednesday lol. I would liek to get some type of "reverse splitter" that let me hook up 2 tanks to the 1 output on the grill, but all I seem to find is the other way around.

    Oh and I just got a BucketRO that I will be firing up tomorrow for the 1st time!
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Tolland, Ct
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    Default

    https://youtu.be/lsTTA60YVPQ

    I ❤️ this RO!
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Tolland, Ct
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul01036 View Post
    TheNamelessPoet, can you tell me a little bit about your set up. What type of propane system are you running? I have a Smokey Lake 2'x4' 5 burner hobby evaporator hooked to a 125 pound tank. I hope not to have to deal with the freezing issue but one never knows as this is the first time I am running this.
    https://i.imgur.com/8TfjYhY.jpg
    I'll be back with more
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  9. #9
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    Jan 2013
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    Tolland, Ct
    Posts
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    Last edited by TheNamelessPoet; 02-13-2022 at 04:48 PM.
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Tolland, Ct
    Posts
    266

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    Yea!!! already made 136 oz. I made about 140- 150 last year
    2020 - 1st year - 14 taps 1 Gallon Jugs + 4x 5-Gallon Buckets + Propane Grill + lots of headaches
    2021 - 2nd year - 19 Taps (and some free sap from a friend in the same town!) 145 or so OZ
    2022 - 3rd year - 46 taps (3 at home, 2 at neighbors, 38 at friends, and 3 at work) added ROBucket RB10, and Silver Creek 18x34x6 Divided Maple Syrup Pan w/warming Pan+Valve+Thermometer 6 Gallons 6 OZ!
    2023 And we grow some more... Starting with OldPostMaple.com!

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