New 10' x 16' sugar house

[Eric in Kinburn]

I'm fairly new to this hobby. I've been boiling on my BBQ for the last 2 years and finally decided to get an evaporator and build a sugar shack. I spent most of last summer building it. Some finishing being completed this year, but it should be operational. I will do a test boil soon.

Thanks for looking.
Eric

[whalems]

Very nice looking shack! That should serve you well for many seasons! Good Luck, Mike

[cvmaple]

That is a good looking set-up. I have the same evaporator as you have. You should be very happy with it. I recommend you put arch board under your bricks. Post some more pictures when spring arrives. cvmaple

[Eric in Kinburn]

Thanks for the comments guys. It will be nice to have a roof over my head this year. I still have a few more details to work on before the temperature is right to start tapping.

cvmaple - how do you like the evaporator? Do you have any tips/tricks on its operation? I already installed the firebricks so it's too late for the fire panels I think. Talking to D&G they didn't seem to think it was necessary for this small evaporator and said it was optional.

Cheers,
Eric

[cvmaple]

Yeah, It probably is a bit of overkill to put archboard in the little D&G. I don't have any tips or tricks per se. I only made 8 gallons from 50 buckets. It was a poor year. You have to boil a lot of sap to get any amount of syrup out of it and this year I cut my fire wood shorter. About a foot long(all ash) What really made it jump last year was to stuff a handfull of elm brush in on top of the fire. That's all I can think of. How are you going to finish off your syrup?

[cvmaple]

Eric if it's not too late, think about raising the evaporator up about 12 inches on cement blocks or something this will save your back when you are stoking the fire. Sure is a lot of work getting set up the first year isn't it.

[Eric in Kinburn]

Thanks cvmaple,

Yeah, it's too late to raise the evaporator. Maybe one day I'll go through the trouble of making that change. Thanks for the tips. I'm going to fire it up for the first time tomorrow. Hopefully everything goes fine.

Cheers,
Eric

[cvmaple]

Did everything go OK on your test boil Eric?

[Eric in Kinburn]

I chickened out of the test boil last weekend due to a snow storm that was suppose to hit us (Ottawa valley, Ontario) but never did. So I'm planning to do it this weekend. Based on the forecast I won't be tapping for at least another week so I still have time.

I never answered your question about finishing. I bough a small 16"x16" propane finisher which should do the job nicely.

Cheers,
Eric

[Eric in Kinburn]

1st test boil done and all I can say is WOW. I know it's a small evaporator compared to what most of you have, but it's a huge improvement compared to my BBQ and it was -12C over here today. Can't wait to be smelling sap boiling.

Cheers,
Eric

[Sugarmaker]

Eric,
Very nice sugarhouse and new evaporator!
Looks like your ready for some serious boiling time.
Regards,
Chris