MAPLE SIRUP PRODUCERS MANUAL 125 



SailitUtioil ^- Labor (supervisor plus hourly wages at 



$1.50 per hour) 1,255 



The central evaporatinfj plant is a fond proc- 



essing: plant. It must be maintained in the same Total ' 



clean and sanitary manner that is required of . „ ^ . , , 



..„,." F. Income (8,800 gallons of sirup produced; 



all food plants. price received per gallon, $4.3,'ir 38.104 



The evaporator room and any other rooms m Net profit, F - (B + c+D + E), or $38,i04 - 



the plant should be kept free of steam. Moist $28,211 9,893 



surfaces are sites for microbial growth. Steam Return on capital investment: 



is easily removed from the evaporators by us- ^ jqq ^ ^g percent " 



ing the closed venting system described on page $25,291 

 40. 



The floors should be constructed of smooth ' Except for average price per gallon of sirup, these 



. r 1 • data are adapted from Pasto and Taylor (86). 



masonry for ease of cleaning. , g^^ ^^^1^ jg j.^^ itemized capital expenditure. 



The sirup should be packaged in a separate :< p^^ed costs, with the possible exception of salaries 



room or area that can be kept clean and free of paid to management, remain constant irrespective of 



dust. Clean all equipment at frequent intervals. production. 



When detergents and scale-removing chemicals ] Cost of sap. This depends on two variables: (i) The 



, . , , i 1 J u volume of sap processed, and (2) the Brix (percent oi 



are used, they must be completely removed by ^^,g^^, ^^ ^^^ ^^p ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ p^^^ p^i^ f^,. ^^p 



at least three successive rinses with clean, clear ^f 2.4° Brix in 1963. 



water. ' The price received for a gallon of sirup is based on an 



Only clean utensils should be used and in- assumption that '/:, will be sold in bulk at $3 per gallon, 'A, 



Struments should be kept free of sugar sand. at a bulk price of $4, and V., sold retail at $6 per gallon. 



Return on capital for sirup at the plant; does not 

 include marketing costs. 



Economics 



^, , , , • ■ -1 r The previous data assume maximum produc- 



The central evaporator plant is primarily tor . ,. n i ^ t ^ t-- i^ 



^ . , r. r, ■ I tion tor a small plant. Less production would 



concentrating sap to sirup and tor iiltering and , <.<■•* j • e ■ <- ^ 



r „ , ^ XI • -^ -11 u reduce net profit and income from invested 



packaging sirup. When used tor this, it will be . , 



operated only 6 to 8 weeks a year. Yet even 

 with this short period of use, Pasto and Taylor 



(86) found in 1962 that such a plant could pay Material lialaun' 



an excellent return on the invested capital. The Seldom will the actual amount of sirup pro- 

 following calculations, based on Pasto and Tay- duced equal that calculated from the amount of 

 lor's data, show how profitable such an opera- gap purchased and the Brix value of the sap. 

 tion could have been at that time. By recalcu- Pasto and Taylor (86) suggested that there is a 

 lating, using current costs and prices, one could 2-percent loss in sirup. They suggested that this 

 determine whether the return to be expected is due to sirup left sticking to the walls of the 

 would be higher or lower than that shown here. evaporators, holding tanks, and felt filters. This 



apparent loss is caused (1) by making sirup that 



Returns on capitalinvestment in small central evaporator is too heavy (a Brix value above 66.(f), and 



plant used only for processing sap and filtering and selling this heavy sirup on a volume basis 



packaging sirup ' rather than on a weight basis; (2) by overfilling 



. , X i , . . . . cSc Of,, sirup containers; as little as 5-percent overfill in 



A. Investment in plant and equipment ■ $25,291 •, , , ■ , 



the retail package results in only 950 gallons oi 



Costs (operating): sirup for each LOGO gallons handled — a loss of 



B. Fixed (management, interest on borrowed 50 gallons; and (3) by removing during filtration 



capital, depreciation, repairs, insurance, sugar sand that was measured in sap as sugar. 



property taxes)' 6,277 ^p^^ longer the plant is in productive opera- 



Variable: " 



C. Sap supplies (322,292 gal. (2.4° Brix) at tion (hours and days) and the greater the vol- 



$0,052 per gal.)^ 16,7.59 ume of sirup produced, the greater will be the 



D. Fuel (26,136 gal. oil at $0.15) 3,920 profits and returns on the investment. 



