snoman701 said:
Do you do your finishing in those pans as well Kurtak?
That's kind of a yes & no answer --- the pan on the left (first pic in third set of pics
of OP) was used as a preheat/evaporate "starter" pan - in other words cold sap would go in that pan where it would start to heat up as well as start evaporation
Then the pan on the right (same pic as above) had a divider in it dividing the pan into a front compartment of one third of the pan & a back compartment of two thirds of the pan - if you look close at the pic of the pan (this post) you can see the divider --- the front one third compartment was the "finish" compartment of the divided pan
So - when first starting out the pan on the left (first pic in third set of pics of OP) was filled with cold sap as well as "both" compartments of pan on right
Then - as the sap level evaporated down in both pans - sap was transferred from the back compartment to the front compartment of the divided pan & sap from the "starter pan" transferred to the back compartment of the divided pan & then the starter pan topped off with cold sap again
So the flow was - cold sap goes to starter pan to preheat & start evaporation - then preheated sap transferred to back compartment of second pan (as level goes down) to "continue" evaporation/concentration - which is then transferred to front compartment as level goes down where evaporation/concentration continues until that compartment becomes full compartment of syrup --- which is then drained - compartment washed - refilled & cycle restarted/continued
Did you plumb each individual tree to a central collecting tank? or have to go around dumping buckets?
Per the underlined - no - that is normally a "vacuum system" where a vacuum is used to "draw" the sap from the trees to the central tank --- & the vacuum lines are normally put in "permanently" (left year around)
The trees we tap are on someone else's property - the land owner did not want permanent lines running through his woods
So we had to use collection bags that hang on the tree taps (first pic of second set of pics of OP) - because the trees we tap go back 1,200 - 1,500 feet off the road we set up a system using 55 gallon drums & compressed air to transfer the sap from the woods out to the truck (see pic of drawing)
The way it works --- sap collects in bags on trees - bags are emptied into buckets - buckets emptied into 55 gallon drums - when drum is full drum is pressurized with compressed air which pushes sap out to truck
Drums are set in locations so you don't have to carry sap to far - drums are laid on ground with small bung hole at the bottom with sap transfer line attached - large bung hole at top - 2 inch treaded elbow with funnel (in large bung hole) used to fill barrel - when barrel is full - elbow/funnel is removed & replaced with large bung cap with air line fitting - barrel is pressurized to transfer sap to 450 gallon tote in back of truck
Sound like a lot of work - but its not really - three of use could collect & transfer about 600 - 800 gallons of sap from the woods to the truck in about two & a half hours
At the beginning of the season we can lay the system out AND tap all our trees in a day - at the end of the season we can roll the system up - pack it out & haul it home in about a half a day
Kurt