Fired for a test boil today- new everything

[SevenCreeksSap]

We finally got to where I was okay with a test boil. I was looking forward to this more than Christmas last week.

This was a test run for homemade evap, new pans, new shack, everything. we're going from backyard and 10 taps last year to over 100 taps this year down the hill at our sugarbush-in-development, so I was a little nervous about burning down the new sap shack. the good news is its still standing and everything I have set up worked. Quite a few tweaks but thats what this was for.

Took some notes and found out a few things.

The pans are 2x6 sap pan and 2x2 syrup pan. They are made by Jim at Smoky Lake Maple and worked like they were supposed to. I made marks at 1 1/2 in deep and 2 in. deep because I figure thats the minimum I would want in the pans, so when it boils down to that its time to add. I found out it takes 15 gals water to flood the rear pan to 2 in., and 24 to flood both pans to 2 in. deep.

I fired with 24 gals with cold water. I dont have a preheater set up yet. I fired up slow because this thing had never had fire in it and I wanted to be comfortable with my stack setup.Stach seemed to work fine- its 8 in black pipe all the way up. it took 15 minutes for the water to start bubbling in the front pan, and another 10 to start boiling good. No blower yet - again because of testing the stack. My main goal was to NOT burn down the shack.

I did get a good steam rolling off both pans all the way back. my firebox is bricked on the sides from the grate to the lip that holds the pans and is 22" wide, 21" deep and 16 in from grate to pans.
The front of the rear pan boiled but I didnt get a rolling boil at the back of the rear pan. didnt seem to get flame that far back. It did have the small bubbles all the way back and steam.

I fired about every 10 minutes for an hour and let it burn out, for a total of about 1 1/2 hrs of steaming. I measured all the gallons I put in (27) and will drain tomorrow and measure to see what boiled off.

All in all I'm really pleased everything worked and I kept my main goal, no fire department. I see a lot of little thing to improve on and if anyone thinks of something then reply. seems like a lot of newbies like me going bigger this year and I'll be the test rat. (couldnt spell ginee pig)

[Gary R]

Congrats Seven Creeks! Now it's time to really fire it up. Get that blower under it and see what it will do:)

[christopherh]

Yes! defienetly get a blower install, it makes a huge difference. I was was getting about 40 GPH at times with mine. I'm looking into AOF now to stop the embers from flying out the stack. I did put in a spark arrester to, so we'll see what happens.

[Ausable]

Hey SevenCreeks - Congratulations on the test fire. It is a great feeling to find out the rig works. A little advice - I use single wall 8' too, but when you really crank it up (And I don"t use Forced Air - Yet) Pay attention to where the stack goes through the roof - mine was getting a bit warm, even with the normal safeguards, so I made sheet metal heat shields and that took care of that problem. When You are doing a good - hard boil - just pay attention to any areas that might be getting too hot and deal with it - once that is out of the way - then maybe ---lol---Forced Air. Hey - Forced Air does increase the boiling rate - If ya need it... Best of luck ----Mike----

[GramaCindy]

All of the details of your boil sounded very familiar to me. I did the same thing yesterday…one thing you mentioned that scared the HE** out of me was that you were going to drain the pans tomorrow???? ISN'T IT COLD THERE???? Don't let your pans freeze. And something I just found out is to leave your drawoff valves 1/2 open, to prevent ice forming in them. Happy Sapping SevenCreeksSap!
We finally got to where I was okay with a test boil. I was looking forward to this more than Christmas last week.

This was a test run for homemade evap, new pans, new shack, everything. we're going from backyard and 10 taps last year to over 100 taps this year down the hill at our sugarbush-in-development, so I was a little nervous about burning down the new sap shack. the good news is its still standing and everything I have set up worked. Quite a few tweaks but thats what this was for.

Took some notes and found out a few things.

The pans are 2x6 sap pan and 2x2 syrup pan. They are made by Jim at Smoky Lake Maple and worked like they were supposed to. I made marks at 1 1/2 in deep and 2 in. deep because I figure thats the minimum I would want in the pans, so when it boils down to that its time to add. I found out it takes 15 gals water to flood the rear pan to 2 in., and 24 to flood both pans to 2 in. deep.

I fired with 24 gals with cold water. I dont have a preheater set up yet. I fired up slow because this thing had never had fire in it and I wanted to be comfortable with my stack setup.Stach seemed to work fine- its 8 in black pipe all the way up. it took 15 minutes for the water to start bubbling in the front pan, and another 10 to start boiling good. No blower yet - again because of testing the stack. My main goal was to NOT burn down the shack.

I did get a good steam rolling off both pans all the way back. my firebox is bricked on the sides from the grate to the lip that holds the pans and is 22" wide, 21" deep and 16 in from grate to pans.
The front of the rear pan boiled but I didnt get a rolling boil at the back of the rear pan. didnt seem to get flame that far back. It did have the small bubbles all the way back and steam.

I fired about every 10 minutes for an hour and let it burn out, for a total of about 1 1/2 hrs of steaming. I measured all the gallons I put in (27) and will drain tomorrow and measure to see what boiled off.

All in all I'm really pleased everything worked and I kept my main goal, no fire department. I see a lot of little thing to improve on and if anyone thinks of something then reply. seems like a lot of newbies like me going bigger this year and I'll be the test rat. (couldnt spell ginee pig)

[christopherh]

Hey SevenCreeks - Pay attention to where the stack goes through the roof - mine was getting a bit warm, even with the normal safeguards, so I made sheet metal heat shields and that took care of that problem. When You are doing a good - hard boil - just pay attention to any areas that might be getting too hot and deal with it - once that is out of the way - then maybe ---lol---Forced Air. Hey - Forced Air does increase the boiling rate - If ya need it... Best of luck ----Mike----


Good point Ausable, I had to do the same thing. With forced air the stack temp skyrocketed. I ended up covering all the rafters near the stack with ceramic blanket and making a heat shield. I may end up running double wall through that area.

[SevenCreeksSap]

I didnt even think about the pans freezing but its still pretty warm where we are. 50 yesterday and 45 today, but dropping after today. I've read a lot here about people leaving sweet in the pans instead of draining every night. does the sugar content lower the freezing point of sap, so if you leave a couple inches its not a problem? I'd like to know what happens there before its boiling time, cause draining this set every night may be a headache.

When I set this up, I just couldnt put a 3 ft hole in my roof yet, so took the stack through the wall at an angle so it has 2-45deg. bends in it. actually through the end roof rafter above the wall. I know, I know straight is better for draft but I just couldnt do it yet. I put that roof on by myself and it doesnt leak. I'm sure when I want better draft in a year or two I'll go thru the roof. anyway, I left a hole in the wall for the stack which is covered by galvanized metal, so the stack is only going through that plate. all joists anywhere near the stack are wrapped with foil covered duct insulation, and wrapped again with metal sheeting. the only place that seemed hot was directly above the stack where it goes thru the wall. I'll be adding another wrap of metal between the stack there and the metal of the wall.
When I drained today (thankfully not frozen) i ended up burning off about 5 gal total yesterday. That was with fire up and cool down, only about an hour of adding wood. I'm sure it will show a better boil rate with a steady, longer boil, but even this is 5 times faster than I had last year.

gotta get that blower set up. We dont have power yet at the shack, so I got some ideas for that from some homesteaders that do a lot off grid. One idea is to use several computer fans in a box directed into the pipe. some of those fans blow pretty good cfm and draw really low amps from a deep cycle battery. Looking into the car blower fan motor too but I guess they draw a lot of amps so battery doesnt last. any other ideas for off grid blower motor?

[Dennis H.]

As long as the sugar content is higher you will be able to leave it in the pans. It won't freeze solid but will become a slushy mix.

I would say about 1 good day of boiling should get it to the point where you won't have to worry to much about freezing.

As for the blower, it will make a big difference, just a word to the wise. Duck! I mean Duck when you open that door to add wood.
I lost a few eye brows by forgetting to duck!