Spiles

There always seems to be new innovations out that say they are going to increase production and save the industry thousands of dollars. This blog post is dedicated to Alan at globurban.com.  He sent an amazing list of all the different maple syrup festivals that are going to be happening around Ontario, thanks Alan.

Alan had great question about spiles and pointed me into the direction of the University of Vermont website. Apparently there has been a new innovation called to check valve spout. It works like this if the vacuum system is turned on than a little ball that’s inside of the spiles is pulled away from the tree allowing the sap to come out. When the vacuum system is turned off the little ball rolls in front of the opening and blocks bacteria from getting back to the hole.   Alan’s concerns seem to be that you’d put excess pressure on the tree by not letting the natural bacteria seal the hole thus taking more sap than the tree is able to lose. Read the full story here.

We will see if this spile will even work this year.  I suspect if you are going to try new product that says it’s going to take more sap from the tree then a producer would tend to under tap.. Most of the syrup produces that I’ve talked to basically baby their bush, if there is something that has the potential to take more sap out of the tree I’m sure it would be tried in moderation. I’m sure it was the same when they came out with a vacuum system. If it works for these innovators than I am sure it is going to catch on.

There’s also been a number of innovations that tried to solve this bacteria problem. Leader Evaporators, which is the company that is selling these new spiles, already has something on their website to try to combat the problem of bacteria.

“designed to be an inexpensive bacteria free throw-away fitting to put in the tree for maple sugar makers looking for maximum production every year.  This rugged extension features a female cup which will accept almost every 19/64 and 5/16 diameter spout on the market”

So will this new little device work, who’s to say?  There is also another type of this spile that we are looking into for our bush, it is a stainless steel spile. Here’s a video of Bill Smith and Keith Brown discussing it.

August 27, 2009 | Categories: Industry, Innovations, Videos | Tags: bacteria, check valve, innovation, spiles, spout, stainless steal, tap | 7 Comments »