I buy them off of a local wine supplier. They are made by E Z Cap..... I buy them locally for 24 bucks a dozen. So shop around...... Nice thing is they last over and over and over, you can buy replacement gaskets very cheap too. They come in 16oz, 32oz, liter, etc....... http://www.homebrewing.org/product....m=ProductAds&gclid=CNnR7v3Ct8QCFQQJaQod9EsA6g
Use Mason jars for syrup if you're not gonna be selling it. They're cheap, reusable, easily labelled.
First day of spring - saps really flowing now! At least 20 gallons on hand right now. I love being in the woods this time of year. Then again, anytime of year is my favorite! Brilliant idea on using the sawbuck. Too bad the holes are drilled on the wrong side... Back to plan A I guess. Here's my super efficient high tech evaporator:
Looks great Shawn! Today was slow.......probably because it never got above freezing and it snowed like crazy! Had to put the damm plow back on........
Looking good buddy!! I'm sitting by my evaporator in the rain right now, 6 fresh, sloppy wet inches of slushy snow on the ground. Only brought in around 30 gallons tonight, taps were slow because of the weather and lack of sun today . Supposed to be in the mid 50's tomorrow, hoping for 60 gallons tomorrow. Boiled off over 80 gallons since 5 o'clock this afternoon.
That's awesome! Now I want to run to the store and build one of my own this weekend! Cheap, easily available materials, looks pretty easy to build.... Just gotta figure out where I want to put it! Hate to buy the cinder blocks though - my dad is hoarding a pile of them, but he won't give them up! Did you line with fire bricks?
OK can't take it any longer since I ain't got no maples there is a good bee keeping thread that caught my attention honey-maple syrup not too much of a stretch is it?
I know I'm cooking 4+gal an hr. It's actually keeping me busy now. My spout must have gotten buried in the snow somewhere, aaahhh! Been wingin' it.
I'm thinking if I build a small sugar shack, that I can also use for garden storage, and install my dormant Fireview in there that I can use the Fireview as my evaporator? Is this a reasonable possibility? Hoping to start production next year. Here's a picture of one of the sugars around my home. I'm gathering that crown should give me good sap? DBH is over 24 inches.
Honey's all good. If you've got the pollen to support a hive, go for it. I've been thinking I want to try a hive here. My nephew on Maui decided 3/4 though his liberal arts program that he wanted to do agriculture, so he gets his degree in a few weeks (BA) but needs to take more courses for this associate agriculture degree. Taking Beekeeping as one of his courses this semester. A few weeks ago a swarm started building a nest as the barn on my Mom's farm there. Yesterday, the instructor went out to Ulupalakua (Kula)with Nick , and they vacuumed the hive, into some special box, then transferred the swarm to a hive. At the end of the course, the course provides each student with a hive and a queen. This will give Nick two hives to start with. Great timing.
I boiled a small test amount last weekend on the wood stove. It took forever, and wouldn't really be ideal for a large amounts of sap. Cooking the bulk outside with a large surface area being hit with heat would be best and then finishing it on the woodstock or kitchen stove would be best.
It's amazing what one can do with an evaporator! CHEESESTEAK PIZZA Just kidding, Dawn made this inside.
I've been cooking for 3 hours, probably put in 25 stove length splits. I know another member has gone through 1.5 cords already over the past few weeks at around 440 gal of sap I believe.
1/7th cord a gallon...that's almost half a face cord a gallon. If you were buying the firewood here, it would cost you $50.00. Doing the work yourself, still very labor intensive, just getting the wood ready. If I can figure a way to keep the sap from ruining while I wait to evaporate, at those wood rates seems it might be worth taking the time a fireview would need to evaporate the sap...I could run the Fireview a good part of a year on that much wood. Can easily keep the stovetop at about 450, and the entire surface is available, so could use two 10x14 pans..close to 300 sq inches. Someone posted the surface area you need to evaporate a gallon an hour, but I can't find it. Was it 100 sq inch per gallon? That would mean 3 gallon per hour, or 12 to 14 hours per gallon of syrup under ideal conditions with the surface area I'd have available?
It could be done, but keeping a wood stove at high temps for that long would be a challenge, ash,coaling, etc...... but could be done. I've been boiling for around 3-4 hours now and boiling down 4 gal+ an hour roughly and only using 2 -6" deep hotel pans. I should be done in about another 3 hours. However, in the time I've been boiling, each tree has yielded approx another gal, just since this morning! That's another 12gal roughly. I'm adding that to the pans today as well. The smell is amazing! It smells like cotton candy everywhere!
