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Question about maple syrup spiles

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Slackbunny:
Thanks stickbender. If I buy copper I'll be sure to clean it really good. Thanks for the tip.

Buffalogobbler:
My guess is copper is OK to use, the moonshiners use it for thier stills all the time.

Kevin

gstoneberg:
My maple syrup boiler was confused as a still many times.  I put an input 15gal container up on a board across 2 6' step ladders and ran 3/8 copper tubing from it, around the stove pipe of the boiler a few times and then let it dribble into the pan.  The valve on the input bucket could regulate the inflow so it came in at about the same rate as the evaporation from boiling.  The sap often had a skim of ice on it so it was very cold.  By the time it made its copper journey it was warm as it entered the pan.  I tried quarter inch copper but it would restrict the flow so much the sap would come out as steam which defeated the purpose.   I could stoke the fire and go back in the house for an hour and let the boiler run unattended.  I used to work from home on boiling days, set a timer for 60 minutes and sit at the laptop working between visits to the boiler.  It helped that I gave my boss a pint of syrup every year for Christmas. :)

In my experience, mold was a bigger problem than corrosion.  Once I tried to store sap too long and it fermented.  I figured the alcohol would boil off and made a quart syrup to see.  Yuk!!!!!  Dumped that batch of sap out.

George

Outbackbob48:
I bought a few elderberry sap spiles at a flea market, Don't know if they were food grade or not. ;D ;D ;D :o

Hunts with stone:
I'm not up on all this but putting copper into a tree will kill it at some point if left in it.

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