Maple Syrup 2019

[Johnmn]

I have a few different styles of old metal taps. They all use 7/16 holes. I also have a couple dozen brand new plastic 7/16 taps, the kind that just accept a hose. And I have tons of 5/16 taps that have been used one year.

Pm me some pricing, are the 5/16 metal or plastic?

 

[beaglebriar]

My property is mostly large sugar maple trees. I've been talking about trying my hand at syrup but haven't pulled the trigger on any supplies or anything. I should probably do a little reading first. Any suggestions? I would like to try it on the cheap first, maybe I can find some used equipment?

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I have a backyard sugaring book I can send you. Shoot me a PM.

 

[beaglebriar]

A buddy runs a few taps here in east TN. He uses steam pans on this cooker he built himself. He used to be a welder but now is a Mr Green jeans like myself. He ended up with a few gallons a couple years ago. He is always on the lookout for good trees around here.

View attachment 159627

You can get 8-10 gallons an hour through something that size if properly set up.

 

[blacksmith]

Calling @Scotty Overkill, this is a thread for you right here. Jump in man!

 

[beaglebriar]

This little pump is fantastic if you have a few taps on tubing.

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/191534547426

 

[Flint Mitch]

I have a backyard sugaring book I can send you. Shoot me a PM.

Cool! PM on its way

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[Dustin4185]

You can get 8-10 gallons an hour through something that size if properly set up.

Our problem here is getting enough sap. East TN just doesn’t have the right conditions. You can find plenty of sugar maples, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

This little pump is fantastic if you have a few taps on tubing.

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/191534547426

That’s slick fugger. You been holding out on me?

 

[Ryan Browne]

The new stuff people are doing (myself included) with 3/16 tubing and cheap diaphragm vacuum pumps is pretty cool. I think it'd work really well in marginal climates like Tennessee. First off, it's super cheap. $100 for a pump and tubing is like $45/800'. Second, with vacuum and tubing, the taps stay fresh WAY longer than hanging buckets. So, a guy in Tennessee could tap at the end of December and just leave the vacuum running whenever it's above freezing. If you got a couple cold nights here and there you'd probably get good sap runs afterwards.

By the way, there's some easy math to help figure out how big of a cooker you want. Basically flat pans usually cook off a gallon per square foot per hour. We used to run a setup with three pans totaling 25 square feet. We'd run it 24 hours a day during the big sap runs, but generally you don't want to do that. So, you can figure a good sap run to be 1 gallon per tap (might be different in your area). If you've got 50 taps and you want to cook it all in 8 hours, you'd need something that can cook 6.25 gallons per hour, so a 2x3 or 2x4 flat pan setup would work well..

 

[Ryan Browne]

@Ryan Browne I work with a guy from over your way. He has a RO and fancy cooker. I asked him tonight and he said he can run 1200 gallons of sap per hour. That's with the RO cutting to 25% and the cooker going through 300 gallons per hour with everything running smoothly.

Yeah, I've visited several operations like that. It's pretty cool to see. Pittman's in Arkansaw is probably my favorite. They cook sap from like 50,000 taps or something like that. Not all their taps, they buy a lot of sap. They've got two BIG ROs running side by side and two big 5x16' cookers. The one cooker has never been used. Just sitting there as an insurance policy. When you're cooking that much sap you can't afford to lose any time during the season if you had a catastrophic failure for some reason. They can fill a drum of syrup in an hour. Most I've ever made in a whole day was like 40 gallons last year. Felt pretty good to me.

I definitely see where if you want to run more than a couple thousand taps, an RO would be a nice, but from where I'm sitting I'll probably never have one. Too expensive and too much plumbing for my taste. They make cookers that'll do over 500 gallons of evaporation per hour, so a guy could cook a lot of raw sap if he wanted. It would take a lot if wood though...

 

[beaglebriar]

That’s slick fugger. You been holding out on me?

Lmao...They're awesome little pumps,a real back saver.

 

[beaglebriar]

Our problem here is getting enough sap. East TN just doesn’t have the right conditions. You can find plenty of sugar maples, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate.

Believe it or not we run into the same situation here. If the freeze/ thaw isn't just right I get very little sap.

My trees are on a north facing slope and often they won't thaw enough to flow. You're probably on the opposite end of that where it stays too warm.

 

[Dustin4185]

The new stuff people are doing (myself included) with 3/16 tubing and cheap diaphragm vacuum pumps is pretty cool. I think it'd work really well in marginal climates like Tennessee. First off, it's super cheap. $100 for a pump and tubing is like $45/800'. Second, with vacuum and tubing, the taps stay fresh WAY longer than hanging buckets. So, a guy in Tennessee could tap at the end of December and just leave the vacuum running whenever it's above freezing. If you got a couple cold nights here and there you'd probably get good sap runs afterwards.

By the way, there's some easy math to help figure out how big of a cooker you want. Basically flat pans usually cook off a gallon per square foot per hour. We used to run a setup with three pans totaling 25 square feet. We'd run it 24 hours a day during the big sap runs, but generally you don't want to do that. So, you can figure a good sap run to be 1 gallon per tap (might be different in your area). If you've got 50 taps and you want to cook it all in 8 hours, you'd need something that can cook 6.25 gallons per hour, so a 2x3 or 2x4 flat pan setup would work well..

What type of diaphragm pump are you talking about? I just help him out occasionally, but considering making some myself. I have plenty of trees near my house that I could tap.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Believe it or not we run into the same situation here. If the freeze/ thaw isn't just right I get very little sap.

My trees are on a north facing slope and often they won't thaw enough to flow. You're probably on the opposite end of that where it stays too warm.

I'm lucky, in that my trees are on a south facing slope, with an open field to the east, so I get some hellacious runs on a sunny day. A few at the top of the slope have the same problem as yours, though. They don't thaw out until the day is almost over sometimes.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

I s'pose I could toss some taps in, to see if I could catch these early runs. But I won't.

 

[Ryan Browne]

What type of diaphragm pump are you talking about? I just help him out occasionally, but considering making some myself. I have plenty of trees near my house that I could tap.

I run shurflo 2088s. I have 3 of them. They'll pull 25+ inches of vacuum if they're set up right. That much vacuum makes a lot more sap than no vacuum!

 

[Ryan Browne]

I s'pose I could toss some taps in, to see if I could catch these early runs. But I won't.
View attachment 161079

At least around here, that weather wouldn't make any sap flow. Still too cold between those highs, which are only marginal. It usually takes us a few days in a row around 40 before it get going. And lows in the mid 20s for several hours are much better than teens or below.

That is one cool thing about vacuum though, you can tap them in January and still need collecting in April if you are using new spouts. No more of this "when is the best 3 week window?" guessing game. I hated that.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

At least around here, that weather wouldn't make any sap flow. Still too cold between those highs, which are only marginal. It usually takes us a few days in a row around 40 before it get going. And lows in the mid 20s for several hours are much better than teens or below.

That is one cool thing about vacuum though, you can tap them in January and still need collecting in April if you are using new spouts. No more of this "when is the best 3 week window?" guessing game. I hated that.

I'm running 3/16" on gravity, so with new spouts, I could try it and hopefuly produce into March.

On the other hand, with weather like this, the trees will be hard as a rock. No sense being in a hurry. Once a decent warm spell is in the 10 day lookahead, I'll probably go ahead and tap. It doesn't take me long with only 30-odd taps.

 

[Ryan Browne]

I'm running 3/16" on gravity, so with new spouts, I could try it and hopefuly produce into March.

On the other hand, with weather like this, the trees will be hard as a rock. No sense being in a hurry. Once a decent warm spell is in the 10 day lookahead, I'll probably go ahead and tap. It doesn't take me long with only 30-odd taps.

Have you checked how much vacuum you're making? How much drop in elevation do you have?

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Have you checked how much vacuum you're making? How much drop in elevation do you have?

I only did 3/16 last year for the first time. I bought a vacuum gauge this year, out of curiosity.

From the top of my bush to where I collect, I have about 35-40' of drop, so the top trees should be getting decent vacuum.