Whoa!

[girmann]

Haven't been posting. Too busy to even think about doing anything else. As soon as I get home I do nothing but boil and finish, boil and finish...

I mean, get while the gettin' is good, but is this what a "real year" is like? This is my third year doing this and the other two weren't like this!!!

I'm having fun, but I feel a bit overwhelmed! Year 1: 24oz, Year 2: 32oz. YTD: 50oz :o

[hodorskib]

Take it while you can:cool:

[adk1]

Push the good luck our way would yeah!

[MapleLady]

Haven't been posting. Too busy to even think about doing anything else. As soon as I get home I do nothing but boil and finish, boil and finish...

I mean, get while the gettin' is good, but is this what a "real year" is like? This is my third year doing this and the other two weren't like this!!!

I'm having fun, but I feel a bit overwhelmed! Year 1: 24oz, Year 2: 32oz. YTD: 50oz :o How many taps are you running? Sounds like you're off to a good start this year! :D

[girmann]

Ooof. About three too many!

7taps, 10 gallons yesterday! about 24 more ounces of syrup!!!

YTD: 74 oz!

In the past, I have had to save sap over a week and boil 4-5 gallons on the weekends... This past week, I come home from work: "ANOTHER 6 gallons?!?"...and then the next day: "Another 6 gallons?!?" ... the whole week!

The nice thing is that I have a fridge full of bottles of syrup!!!

[morningstarfarm]

Hmmm...if you are going to have a problem during maple season...that's the one I would pick...good luck....sounds like a bigger evaporator is in your future...start priming the wife now!...

[girmann]

Hmmm...if you are going to have a problem during maple season...that's the one I would pick...good luck....sounds like a bigger evaporator is in your future...start priming the wife now!...

Yeah, last year was awful! There were essentially three boil downs and that's it. I just can't seem to bring myself to throw sap on the ground, which is why I'm having such an issue this year.

Hmm... I don't know what the term "Bigger evaporator" means! ;-) My evaporator now is a gas grill with two stainless restaurant pans resting on top of the burners, and two more on the rack above as a preheater. Boiled 9 gallons in 6 hours, so that's not a bad rate for a gas grill! Preheated sap is about 70-80C. I should take a picture. Cost me about $14 in propane for the 33oz I made last night.

Sounds like there might need to be a block arch in my future?

[Cake O' Maple]

Cost me about $14 in propane for the 33oz I made last night.

Sounds like there might need to be a block arch in my future?

Ouch! the first year I did any syrup, I used my neighbor's turkey fryer and a full size hotel pan, and it cost less than $35 a gallon to boil off. [My neighbor started and claimed it took 1 20# tank to boil 1/2 gal syrup. When he quit and I borrowed it, I got about 5 pts of syrup per tank.] It was 3 years ago, and I know prices have risen some, but not that much. Your use calculates to about $56/gallon. I think, if you want to spend less on propane, that purchasing a propane burner would be a better investment and could be quickly done this year, as opposed to researching and building an arch and coming up with a supply of wood (if you were thinking wood-fired).

They sell high BTU propane burners that use more propane but boil much much faster. My research says that people recommend jet burners if you want a fast boil. But even a regular propane burner will boil faster and cheaper than it sounds like your grill is.

Just my thoughts; of course you should do what makes sense to you, and works in your life!

Enjoy that syrup!

[girmann]

Ouch! .... Your use calculates to about $56/gallon. I think, if you want to spend less on propane, that purchasing a propane burner would be a better investment and could be quickly done this year, as opposed to researching and building an arch and coming up with a supply of wood (if you were thinking wood-fired).

...

Enjoy that syrup!

I was overestimating. I've done two boildowns (part of a 6 gallons boil down and the 10 gallon one) with this tank. I didn't want to underestimate... Still, it's the expensive way to go, for sure. It's just that I had the gas grill, and I don't want to spend any more money than I already have on an evaporator. (This might be a case of penny wise and pound foolish)

I have a ready source of wood, though, just no where to put the arch right now (unless I want to put it on top of two feet of snow!)