The Midnite Boil

[TreeTapper2]

Not really, but it will be midnite by the time I'm done with the first boil of the season. So good to be back at it. Almost thought I wouldn't be mapling this year, but all worked out.
The season has started off pretty good. Collected 101 gallons of sap over the last few days for the first boil @ 2.2% sugar.

How bout you? Let's hear whats going on.

[adk1]

Still waiting here. Really crazy year. End of February we had three days of a decent run and boiled once. That was the 23rd of February I believe. Haven't gotten much sap since.

[featheredcoyote]

I pulled taps yesterday after collecting 600 gallons of sap off of 40 taps. This was my first time at this and was shooting from the hip, about 30% of taps were getting cloudy but still tasted good. Was it time to stop, 30 miles east of St. Louis.

[TreeTapper2]

if the syrup still tastes fine keep going. You will know when to stop by the taste. How are the buds? Still freezing at night?

[featheredcoyote]

no real sign of buds yet but has warmed up considerably, still supposed to freeze again in next few days but i've been boiling my backside off and don't have really proper equip will procure a good evaporator before next year. I'm considering a waste oil burner, any thoughts on that?

[lpakiz]

Tree tapper,
Things are just starting here in central Wisconsin. Looks like enough for the first boil on Saturday. Then for several days it doesn't look so good. I'm surprised you are just starting, being way down south and all..
Good luck with your season....

[TreeTapper2]

Good to hear Ipakiz! Isee you have pans from Smokey Lake. What are they and how are they working out for you. I plan on getting something from them for next year.

[TreeTapper2]

Featheredcoyotte I dont know anything about waste oil burners. But if it makes heat and gets hot enough it should work. Just need to get your hands on enough oil.

[lpakiz]

They boil like crazy. It's a 2 X 10 with 8 feet of drop flue pan and just 2 X 2 syrup pan. We get over 90 gallons per hour at 800 on the stack temp. We can go hotter, but the sap jumps out of the pan into the hood gutters and down the drain, so we keep it right at 800. If you get SL pans, you won't be sorry.
PS: Order early, he gets booked up

[TreeTapper2]

Im thinking about 2x4 or 2x6 flat pan. Thought about drop flue but my boils are two far apart I think and my boils usually arent that big. Need to see how this year goes. Going to add 30 more taps.

[lpakiz]

You can figure about gallon per hour per square foot with a flat pan. That's if the guy feeding the fire is the same guy who cuts the wood. If you have a pyromaniac brother-in-law, he might get 1 1/2 gallons per hour per square foot.

[TreeTapper2]

I must be a pyro. Lol. Burning off more than 1 per sq ft.

[kiteflyingeek]

Im thinking about 2x4 or 2x6 flat pan. Thought about drop flue but my boils are two far apart I think and my boils usually arent that big. Need to see how this year goes. Going to add 30 more taps.

TreeTapper2,

If you are going to 60 taps and thinking you might add more, I'll recommend getting a 2x6 drop flue pan. I went from 18 taps my first year with 5 steam pans and I love the fact that I can now boil 60 gallons in about 2 hours (actually less so there's some left for the cool down). I purchased them from Smoky Lake and they are some cash but it depends what you are planning to do with this (addicting) hobby and how much time you have to boil.

Good luck with the rest of this season.

--andrew

[TreeTapper2]

Thanks for the insight Kiteflyingeek. What do you do with the syrup in the flues when your done boiling? What is the boil rate of your pan?

[SlopYourDripper]

Listen my children and I'll tell you
Of the midnight boil of TreeTapper2
In two-oh-fourteen on the twentieth of march
Starting a boil in homemade arch
He asked MapleTraders, "How about you?"

(sorry - couldn't resist with that thread title....):lol:

[WI Sugarpop]

Listen my children and I'll tell you
Of the midnight boil of TreeTapper2
In two-oh-fourteen on the twentieth of march
Starting a boil in homemade arch
He asked MapleTraders, "How about you?"

(sorry - couldn't resist with that thread title....):lol:


:lol::lol::lol: Hey Slop, that's good, I like that.
Now, back to the subject. We custom built our new 2x6 arch and put our old Smokey Lake pans on it. This is our 3rd year using them. They consist of a 2x2 syrup pan and a 2x4 V-flue sap pan. With our new arch we have AOF and AUF and we are getting 30 GPH. Our next upgrade will be a SL regular flue pan. They are nice pans plus it's nice to be only an hour away from Jim.

[kiteflyingeek]

Thanks for the insight Kiteflyingeek. What do you do with the syrup in the flues when your done boiling? What is the boil rate of your pan?


The drop flue that Jim at Smoky Lake Maple Products makes has a drain on it. But during the season, I just leave the partially boiled sap in the drops until I boil again. Unless we have temps below about 20*F -- then I drain the pans. Raised flue pans also have some kind of drain on them for the same reason. But in reality, you don't have to drain it very often.

With as short of a season as I had and as crazy as it was for me to get a shack built before I started to boil, I don't have real accurate numbers for boil rate. But it was somewhere around 30gph if I fired every 7 minutes with 5-7 pieces of wrist size wood. That is hard to do if you are also pumping sap to the head tank, checking syrup density, getting more firewood, drawing off syrup, helping kids with homework, etc. But if you can have a fire stoker, it's a little easier to manage all the other tasks AND keep the pans ROCKING.

Let me know if you have more questions. I'll share what I know having run these GREAT pans for one season.

--andrew

[KevinS]

no real sign of buds yet but has warmed up considerably, still supposed to freeze again in next few days but i've been boiling my backside off and don't have really proper equip will procure a good evaporator before next year. I'm considering a waste oil burner, any thoughts on that?
That might be a wise choice if you have good steady access to waste oil so that you will have plenty to get you through the season. I am glad to be rid of my fuel oil burner though :)


IF they are not budding, and the syrup is good, the sap should clear up after the freeze.

[KevinS]

the midnight boil does not bother me. IT is that 3 pm to 6 AM boil that gets me down.

[wiam]

no real sign of buds yet but has warmed up considerably, still supposed to freeze again in next few days but i've been boiling my backside off and don't have really proper equip will procure a good evaporator before next year. I'm considering a waste oil burner, any thoughts on that?

Check your state rules. Here in VT it is not legal to boil syrup with waste oil.

[TreeTapper2]

Its been a year since the last post on this thread. Time to revive it before I'm done for the season.

All you potential late night boilers it's time to post up here and give a status.

This will be our last boil for the season the day has been good pulled in a hundred and five gallons on 49 taps. We're finishing the season with 550 plus gallons of sap it looks to be close to 11 gallons of syrup. I have already started cleaning the buckets my hands are pruned.

[MapleMounder]

Tapper, our last boil of the season too tonight. Collected about 100 gallons of the hards tonight and pulled the taps. Have the Mason chugging right along using up the sap, if all stays well should run out of sap about 02:00. Another season in the bag, didn't end up to be too bad after all. Hope you have a good last boil.

[TreeTapper2]

Thanks MapleMounder. I think we may finish the same time. Thought the season was over when the warm spell happened but the trees kept on giving. The buds broke two weeks ago but has not affected the syrup, thankfully. Banner year for us. Already planning the upgrades.

[Run Forest Run!]

Congrats on a great year TreeTapper2. Eleven gallons is a lot of syrup!