New evaporator with gift from member! Tks zap

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wishlist

Minister of Fire
Mar 28, 2011
618
Corunna, Michigan
Picked up my new 2x6 raised flue Lapierre evaporator the other day. I'm swamped trying to get ready for sugaring season. :(

Got home and had a nice surprise from zap, a stihl calendar with some pictures of various chainsaws with operators. Of course the first thing I noticed and caught my attention was the lack of PPE these "operators" were wearing. HMMMMMM?????:D:D:D
 

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Very nice, wishlist! Makes my homemade evaporator look pretty sad. But nonetheless, it gets the job done. I would love to get a flue pan evaporator someday.

I got to get the living room done so I can get some wood gathered up, seasons gonna start for me in three weeks......I waited too long last year (didn't start til Valentine's Day) and it was just a horrible season..


[Hearth.com] New evaporator with gift from member! Tks zap
 
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wishlist said:
Picked up my new 2x6 raised flue Lapierre evaporator the other day. I'm swamped trying to get ready for sugaring season. :(

Got home and had a nice surprise from zap, a stihl calendar with some pictures of various chainsaws with operators. Of course the first thing I noticed and caught my attention was the lack of PPE these "operators" were wearing. HMMMMMM?????:D:D:D
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Ok yup I am in for sure ! That looks awesome !

Pete
 
Scotty Overkill said:
Very nice, wishlist! Makes my homemade evaporator look pretty sad. But nonetheless, it gets the job done. I would love to get a flue pan evaporator someday.

I got to get the living room done so I can get some wood gathered up, seasons gonna start for me in three weeks......I waited too long last year (didn't start til Valentine's Day) and it was just a horrible season..


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Big run here the last 2 days. It's on like donkey kong !!! Better get ready.
 
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wishlist said:
Picked up my new 2x6 raised flue Lapierre evaporator the other day. I'm swamped trying to get ready for sugaring season. :(

Got home and had a nice surprise from zap, a stihl calendar with some pictures of various chainsaws with operators. Of course the first thing I noticed and caught my attention was the lack of PPE these "operators" were wearing. HMMMMMM?????:D:D:D
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That looks pretty serious. Are you in commercial production? We are looking for good syrup as local sources have dried up.
 
begreen said:
That looks pretty serious. Are you in commercial production? We are looking for good syrup as local sources have dried up.
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Yes I am begreen. If mother nature cooperates I should be able to make 50 gallons or so. Which is a whole lot of wood burning real fast and many 20 hour days. :)
 
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Most I've made in a season was around 25 gallon, but last year I made 19 in only three weeks of cooking, I was on course to do 50 but the lousy temps ruined it and forced me into an early quit. Some of my sap spoiled and I lost a batch of 8 gallons, so I only ended up with 11 after three weeks of torture. Hoping for better temps this year but honestly it isn't looking good in the long term forecast. If it ends up warming up in February like it did last year, I probably won't even get the equipment out of the barn....
 
Very nice! I usually drool over the Lapierre and leader catalogs a few times during the season. I spent all day yesterday working to get our new to us Airablo vacuum pump wired up, and the rest of the guys were up in the woods getting the new lines up (we bought up another operator this year, and are trying to do some updating). We rebuilt our R.O. last year, and I need to rebuild our evaporator burner (Carlin 701...POS) this year. Aiming for 2500 taps. I've been behind on things because I am right in the middle of expanding our egg operation, so this warm up came as a bit of a surprise.

See, I think that the manufacturers are trying to tell us something with the lack of PPE....

I see you are from Corunna, most of my wife's maternal extended family is from there and Flint.
 
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I've read that there are some folks that tap the big leaf maples locally. I haven't tasted their syrup, but they say it's good. Funny thing is with our mild winters that some tap from Nov through Feb.. I see the filberts have already set their catkins. Days are getting longer too.
 
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You can tap the bigleafs and get sweet syrup? I have a good sized lot with lots of large diameter, like 4 foot, bigleaf maples. Making syrup would be fun.
 
Yeah, you can. We have found that in our woods, they usually dry off earlier (one or two good runs) as opposed to going buddy.

A few years ago in one section of woods, we went and tapped all maples, soft or hard. Our logic was twofold. First, we can handle all of the sap we can get. The second was to see what silver maples can do. What we found was that if there is already a branch line next to them, pick them up! If there isn't though, It wasn't worth the labor and materials to go ahead and tap a whole stand. Now, If it was all we had, then I might reconsider. But with 500+ acres of old growth sugar and black maples, It doesn't make sense. The sugar content was always on the low side on the soft maple, btw.
 
Highbeam said:
You can tap the bigleafs and get sweet syrup? I have a good sized lot with lots of large diameter, like 4 foot, bigleaf maples. Making syrup would be fun.
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Just remember, Highbeam....it takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap from a sugar maple to get a gallon of syrup. Not sure how many gallons of sap from the bigleaf you would need to get (not sure on the % of sugar content of that tree). Yes it is fun, but it's a lot of firewood and cooking. I think it'd be worth a try, go for it! Even if you make a half gallon, it's cool that you can get sugar from a tree like that.
 
wishlist said:
Picked up my new 2x6 raised flue Lapierre evaporator the other day. I'm swamped trying to get ready for sugaring season. :(
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Beautiful setup.

We run a set of Small Bros flat pans, 2x2 finish and 2x4 evap, on a temporary block arch. Pretty "ghetto" when compared to your Lapierre...lol.
We hang 50-75 buckes and usually make 5-7gal a year. Only 3.5gal last year. All we want is enough for our family and friends.

Good luck this season. We typically do not tap until the first week of March so we still have a few weeks to go.
 
Uuuummmmm Wishlist. What gift from ZAP are you referring to? Pics or it didn't happen. That is the rule. Right?
 
Gasifier said:
Uuuummmmm Wishlist. What gift from ZAP are you referring to? Pics or it didn't happen. That is the rule. Right?
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I know the rules gas, in the first pic look behind the chop saw on the wall! Family site so no closeups!

Still upsets me that I have to look at that calender everyday and notice the operators have no PPE on! Lol....:D
 
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Gasifier said:
Uuuummmmm Wishlist. What gift from ZAP are you referring to? Pics or it didn't happen. That is the rule. Right?
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I sent a Stihl calendar from the Wood Chop Shop, nice, next time your in you should ask for one. Another hint Gas, the Wood Chop Shop will be getting some new hats in a few weeks, embroidered.==c
 
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2 things I wished I had: a new evaporator, and a new calender.

We've made syrup the last 2 yrs - strictly at the hobby level. I'm building an evaporator this year from an old wood stove I'm getting from a co-worker's friend. When I get done it will have a 2x4 evaporator pan on top. Not sure if it will work but this is the idea for now.

In Iowa we don't have many sugar maples - but we have a lot of silver maples. Not as high of content as sugar maples, but we make them work. This year I'm also tapping the neighbors Norway maples - I'm hoping they work a bit better but we'll see.........

(broken image removed)
 
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I built this small evaporator last year. I made about 4 gallons of syrup on it. I tried to use a couple of different old stoves that I thought would work good, but I keep going back to this. It's crude, but it works amazing for my small operation. It's a rocket stove variation. Made from a 55 gallon barrel and a shallow pan recessed into the top.
 

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webby3650 said:
I built this small evaporator last year. I made about 4 gallons of syrup on it. I tried to use a couple of different old stoves that I thought would work good, but I keep going back to this. It's crude, but it works amazing for my small operation. It's a rocket stove variation. Made from a 55 gallon barrel and a shallow pan recessed into the top.
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Wow I am doing that ! Maybe this year too thanks for the idea.

Pete
 
Cool! I am boiling down a few gallons an hour, I could do a lot more if I were to stand beside it. But, I don't want to risk a boil over, and I can't post on here. :)
 
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I have two big Silver Maples in my back yard and wouldn't mind giving it a try. Where would you guys recommend getting the supplies from?
 
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