My plan 2023 - 2024

[aamyotte]

If someone who knew me saw me now, they would not know anything happened. My legs are still weak, but it does not affect my walking gait.

I wanted to ask you how your new pan worked out and did you like it better than your old setup?

Good to hear that your mobility is there.
My pan worked great this year, it was much better than with the steam pans. I will be building a bigger evaporator this summer since my old barrel evaporator is getting tired. That the thing with this hobby, continually upgrading.

[Bgreisch]

So sorry to hear that. That is scary. My wife had a stroke at age 34, for the most part she has not had issues from it but she gets tired earlier at night ever since that. I would give it time and see how everything goes. My pan is a 20"X48" pan on the SL Dauntless and I only run 30 taps so you could just down size and still use your setup. I boil once a week.

Bryan

[Andy VT]

I was sorry to hear of your stroke Gary; are you doing well now?
If you downsize, I wonder if it would make sense to keep the evaporator and pan you've got, now that you've got them; could always "batch it" even though the pan is divided and keep things very finite and relaxed. Might be true of much of the rest of what you have as well, such as collection tanks. I suspect you could bring things to a very relaxed pace without starting over setup-wise.

[Swingpure]

Thanks for all of the good wishes. I am 98% back, I would look normal if you saw me. My legs still get tired and I take the odd afternoon nap that I never did before, but all in all, I am very good.

I am still taking it pretty easy and will not start splitting wood again until September. I will be helping some friends with some projects in August, but will be mindful of how much I do.

Shocking as it sounds, I did decide to really downsize, and sold a lot of my stuff. I will make some syrup, how much will depend on if my grandsons are around during sugaring time, but my evaporator will be a turkey fryer and induction stoves.

The decision hit me a little bit when I was discussing making maple syrup the other day with acquaintances and they were asking my advice on a number of issues and I had good answers for them, but started to feel how I will miss it. I sure learned a lot in the two years, and think I was reasonably successful.

If I get back into it, I would either get a different divided pan which would be easier to reverse the flow, or simply get a flat pan for batch boiling. The divided pan I had was quite difficult to reverse the flow with my set up. The niter buildup was getting to be a problem the last five batches and draining everything and cleaning the hard to remove nitre, was not ideal.

In a year or two, if I feel confident that another stroke is not on the horizon, I think I would try and get a used real evaporator. It would not be a big one, something for about 50 taps. I keep remembering my neighbour’s, the generational sugar makers, and how laid back and pedestrian their process was.

[maple flats]

Glad you are doing as well as you are. Good luch in whichever roure you decide to take.
My situation is somewhat similar except my issue is the result of 3 major surgeries last year. This year is much better, but I find I tire far sooner than ever before.
I'm really looking for a welded, used 2x6, prefer raised flue but would go drop if that's all I find. If I don't find a 2x6 I plan to use my propane fired 2x6 finisher, I could get by using that. I really need an RO more than the evaporator. Hope to do 2-300 taps, mostly on sugars, but about 75 would be on reds. I now wish I hadn't sold a great BB4 vacuum pump, now I need to find one. Looking to set the tubing up in mid fall, to be ready before Jan 1. If I get a wood fired, I now only have about 2/3 of the wood needed, split and dried but I have several standing, no bark, dead ash that could easily be processed in time.

[Andy VT]

Sounds good Gary, yep, you were very successful! Even if you never make another drop, no one can take that from you! Nice work! My journey has been on a similar timeline as yours with similar excitement but with a young family and suburban location I've kept it to 2 taps, then 9, then this year 30. 30 nearly broke us so it'll be 30 again for 2024 but with process improvements.

Dave, that's true on the RO! I've only done 3 seasons so far, all on fossil fuels, but wow. I've learned a lot but the biggest thing I've learned to appreciate is the energy needed to boil off water! Its not even about boiling time. People always say "RO saves so much boiling time" but if it was about that a bigger evaporator would do it. Its the energy. I haven't used RO yet, but I spent about as much on propane as the value of the syrup I made. Which is totally fine... the point so far has been learning the process. Sustainability is next (ish). Wood is "free", but only if my time is worthless. So this year I'll be doing RO in some way or another. I might start collecting firewood but if I do it would be for 2025. And I'll still use RO to keep the wood quantity somewhat sane.

[maple flats]

Absolutely, it saves fuel. Back as I had 1200 taps and then 1300+ the next year, I got my 250/hr RO. When I got it I had enough firewood split and stacked for 2 years without an RO, that supply ahead lasted me 5 years and after that I still had some left for the next year. I then resumed processing more wood. From that point until I decided to quit, I kept a 2 year supply ahead. The decision to quit has now been changed, I'm getting back into it, but smaller.

[4Walls]

Gary. Happy for your recovery. Scary experience for sure. I'm at the age now where these things are happening to friends. Certainly a bit of self reflection here on my part.
I can't say enough about the RO. I went 20 years without one. Then built a little RO bucket style one. Worked ok but not enough capacity for the 340 taps I had. I then built a 4x40 Ro with a procon pump. WOW. That thing pulls 100-120 litres of water out of my sap an hour if I push it. Easy flush outs mid season and easy clean and store for the season.
I also highly recommend the heat pump for your house. I just installed one that works down to -30 and the air conditioning is a nice bonus. Mine was the 3 head Senville Aura series. Pre charged with refrigerant. It is a semi DIY system that wasn't too hard to figure out with some help from YouTube. I cut and flared my runs to length to avoid the unsightly extra coils. I used CO2 to pressure test to 350 pounds to see that my fittings were tight. I managed to convert my 5 HP Husky compressor to work as a vacuum pump. I have used it on the cars to do the ac on them. Pulled a good vacuum down to 30 in and held it for the recommended time.
This heat pump has been life changing with the dry cool comfort in the house now.
Justin

[Swingpure]

I am getting the maple syrup itch.

I am doing well, walking about 10 kms (6 miles) a day on average. I am getting a heat pump in a couple weeks which will reduce future work cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking wood. Turns out I have a little bit of A-fib which likely caused the stroke. I am now back doing physical work again, but I am a little smarter and just do it for a few hours a day, as opposed to all day.

I sold basically all of my stuff, but I still have some left. I also have three lines still up with 74 taps. I checked on the lines today, they looked good. I have to replace one drop.

My goal is at the end of the ice fishing period, near the end of March, to tap the trees for 7 to 10 days, to gather about 120 gallons of sap, to make 3 gallons of syrup or so.

My evaporator and divided pan is gone, but I will boil the sap in steam pans over a fire pit, boil over 1 or 2 turkey fryers and boil on an induction stove. Combined that may boil at 4 gallons per hour.


The idea is just to make syrup low key, for a limited period of time. And not spend too much new money.

I sold my one handed tool for the tubes and there will be a couple of joints I will have to make with fittings and the tubing. It will be interesting to see how I can push them on by hand.

I will also miss my vacuum filter and will have to come up with a different filter system.

[aamyotte]

That's a good hike you're getting in. You will love the heat pump. I've been using mine for the last week.
Sounds like a low stress season you're getting setup for.