Can't wait for the sap to start flowing (it's been/is a horrible winter).
I started really small last year, experimented with a few things to see what worked and what was the cheapest. I had no problem collecting sap, my boiling system needed some improvement.
What I did for tapping trees that was extremely efficient and CHEAP was to use 1/2" (inside diameter of line) PEX plumbing nipples. They're basically a 2" long piece of black hard plastic with a collar in the middle and 2 ribs on each nipple. Find them in the plumbing section of your HW store. The ends are chamfered so they tap easily into 3/8" holes drilled about 1" deep. I attached a short piece of PEX tubing run into a 2 gal ziplock bag pinned to the bark with pushpins. Worked well until a couple 65 degree days and a rain broke the frost and opened the floodgates, then the bags occasionally overfilled and fell down. This year I'm switching to direct drain to 5 gal buckets when the flow gets heavy. Price per tree was about $1 or 2 on the larger trees I double tapped with a 3-way tee and 2 pieces of pex line. I was able to remove almost all the "taps" intact with a vise grips. Only wrecked a couple beyond repair.
I was tapping a mix of Silver Maple and Boxelder and got aprox 40:1 yield with delicious syrup so you don't need sugar maples! All my trees were growing in relatively open areas and were quite branchy. I think that helps. Now I can't wait to try out my new craigslist $25 leaky old woodstove converted to hold 2 full size SS steam table trays in direct contact with the fire. We'll get 'er cookin' this year for sure! I also glommed onto some SS 3/8" food grade tubing from a local bar so I may experiment with a worm preheated fill through the flue pipe this year too. We'll see how advanced I feel like getting.
You can use a homemade "stove" and kettle. Last year I used 12X4X16" solid concrete block to construct a "stove" over a trench crossed with rebar pieces to form a grate with free air flow underneath. I used a large canning pot for a boiler. It burned a lot of wood and I drank a lot of beer tending the fire constantly. Wasn't very efficient but it made syrup. I was able to easily make a gallon in a weekend (and drink 2 gallons of beer). I found it best to finish the syrup in a smaller pot on a camp stove. Pull it off the main fire when it gets a bit "oily" looking and the boil starts looking "angry." We strained ours through boiled floursack towels. Ended up with a small amount of cloudy material in the bottom of each jar but removed the niter, debris and didn't affect flavor. Filtered very easily.
I started really small last year, experimented with a few things to see what worked and what was the cheapest. I had no problem collecting sap, my boiling system needed some improvement.
What I did for tapping trees that was extremely efficient and CHEAP was to use 1/2" (inside diameter of line) PEX plumbing nipples. They're basically a 2" long piece of black hard plastic with a collar in the middle and 2 ribs on each nipple. Find them in the plumbing section of your HW store. The ends are chamfered so they tap easily into 3/8" holes drilled about 1" deep. I attached a short piece of PEX tubing run into a 2 gal ziplock bag pinned to the bark with pushpins. Worked well until a couple 65 degree days and a rain broke the frost and opened the floodgates, then the bags occasionally overfilled and fell down. This year I'm switching to direct drain to 5 gal buckets when the flow gets heavy. Price per tree was about $1 or 2 on the larger trees I double tapped with a 3-way tee and 2 pieces of pex line. I was able to remove almost all the "taps" intact with a vise grips. Only wrecked a couple beyond repair.
I was tapping a mix of Silver Maple and Boxelder and got aprox 40:1 yield with delicious syrup so you don't need sugar maples! All my trees were growing in relatively open areas and were quite branchy. I think that helps. Now I can't wait to try out my new craigslist $25 leaky old woodstove converted to hold 2 full size SS steam table trays in direct contact with the fire. We'll get 'er cookin' this year for sure! I also glommed onto some SS 3/8" food grade tubing from a local bar so I may experiment with a worm preheated fill through the flue pipe this year too. We'll see how advanced I feel like getting.
You can use a homemade "stove" and kettle. Last year I used 12X4X16" solid concrete block to construct a "stove" over a trench crossed with rebar pieces to form a grate with free air flow underneath. I used a large canning pot for a boiler. It burned a lot of wood and I drank a lot of beer tending the fire constantly. Wasn't very efficient but it made syrup. I was able to easily make a gallon in a weekend (and drink 2 gallons of beer). I found it best to finish the syrup in a smaller pot on a camp stove. Pull it off the main fire when it gets a bit "oily" looking and the boil starts looking "angry." We strained ours through boiled floursack towels. Ended up with a small amount of cloudy material in the bottom of each jar but removed the niter, debris and didn't affect flavor. Filtered very easily.
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