Starte my First 2013 Boil!

[DonMcJr]

:cool:I'm out in the Sugar House and just Stoke the Evaporator!!! 9:30 PM!:lol:

[DonMcJr]

71012.5 hours and almost half way through 75 gallons of Sap!

[Run Forest Run!]

That's awesome Don. I'm so jealous. Still waiting to hear a drip, drip in any of my buckets. :(

[DonMcJr]

I must have ran into some damp wood cause the heat dropped and instead of 210F I'm only getting 207 F ... smells sweet and yummy!

[DonMcJr]

4.5 hours and about 15. Gallons to go!

Here's a short video from my phone!


http://youtu.be/O84sSIuKqkk

[not_for_sale]

Don,

This does not boil anywhere as fast as my barrel with steam pan or propane turkey fryer boils. Maybe your wood is split too big? Looks like all hardwood too.

With 4 of very similar pieces of wood but split smaller my barrel boiled 5 gallons down in a test boil

Do you have a blower on it? Zoro tools has a Dayton 1tdn7 for less than 60 shipped.

Joe

[heus]

Don if the wood stacked to the left of the evaporator is what you are using, it is split way too big. You want pieces not much bigger than the diameter of your wrist for that rig.

[Ed R]

2nd Hues on the wood Don. See if you can split some of it smaller, if not see if you can find a dry dead top and cut up some of the limb wood to mix in. Any pallets or similar wood would do the trick as well. If you have a small fan and can direct it into the ash door, that might help as well.

[DonMcJr]

I know the wood is too big. Can't use my Axe cause I am getting Surgery on my right arm in the next month. Maybe I'll have to buy my wood splitter early!

[sirsapsalot]

15 gallons per hour on a half pint is impressive.

[DonMcJr]

It endedup more like 8 Gallon/ hour... then 3 hours I waited for it to cool down because I wanted to put my SS lid on it that I made and it was still evaporating as it cooled and I didn't want to cover and lose some Evaporation.

I was really Impressed with using the Pan Gasket. Really made it go alot faster. That and I have a little fan I put blowing into the ash door.

Still need my wood splt smaller though. It burns great but Smaller wood would work even better. I have alot of Video but I still have to edit it...

[sapbrush]

wow i have a half pint im lucky if i can get 10 gals out in 2 hours. man id love to know that secreat

[DonMcJr]

You missed my Last post it was more around 8 Gallons/hour...Little Fan blowing in the ash tray and Syrup Pan Gasket...

[DonMcJr]

Well I will have smaller wood this weekend!

Note to self... Don't goto a New Menards on Opening weekend to buy a LogSplitter! A LIne of cars in and out of the parking lot and it was super busy. But I got a good deal on a 22 ton Log Splitter! Just gotta put it together now and all the wood will be split smaller soon!

[325abn]

Good deal, Nice man!

[Too Tall]

Got my first (real) boil in today. Up until now I've been on the turkey fryer. Today I boiled down about 15 gallons of sap and made a half gallon of syrup. The sap was pretty sweet because there was a 4" layer of ice on top that I threw out.

Not a bad day.

[DonMcJr]

Good Job too Tall!

[mikerosenow]

Hi everybody, this is my first post ! I live near Port Huron and have been sugaring for about
4 years now. I enjoy reading your posts! Collected about 45 gallons of sap from12 taps this weekend and ended
up with just under a gallon of syrup using my homemade fuel oil drum evaporator. Perfect weather!

[DonMcJr]

Welcome Mike! Glad to have you here!