Barrel Evaporator produced roughly 3.5 quarts on first boil -- needs a few tweeks

[jrm]

I'm seeing the sugarin' addiction and how all the tweaks that others have noted come about. Yesterday I did my first ever evaporation. Roughly 18 gals of sap turned into 3.5 qts of syrup. I had more sap collected over the storage time, but was getting rid of the ice layers as I saw mentioned on other posts.

I've learned that the mesh screening I put on the flue -- I lived in Colorado for 18 years before moving east a few years ago, and saw too many wild fires too close to home -- needs to come done. I believe my draft was affected as I wasn't getting nearly enough draw out, nor as much as I had on my water test boil. Also, realized halfway through burning that when I had added some additional fire brick after my water test boil, that I inadvertently placed on in from of the door's lower venting. My rear pan never reached as high a temp (highest I got was 170) as it did with the water. Again, I changed interior fire brick, so maybe I need to readjust. Also thinking I was getting wood too far back from the fire and catching on the flue opening.

Any other thoughts to help get that rear pan hotter? I was adding cold sap to it and moving warm sap from it to the front pan. Front pan was ranging from 205 - 213. My temps on that front pan stayed lower later in the day. I was out roughly 10 hours and then finished off inside.

Managed to not filter as clean as I thought, think some of the syrup went behind the filter. Waiting for a wool filter. This time around just pre-filters. Have small amount of niter in my bottles. I am going to warm, refilter, and rebottle.

Thanks.
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[harrison6jd]

congratulations on the finished syrup! looks sweet and that what matters. as far as the rear pan, it seems like you need more draft. you pipe looks long enough but your lower venting looks small. those stove door kits are for wood stove and dont require the draft an evaporator needs for a ripping fire. the fires in the evaporator may be considered dangerous on most wood stoves. try opening the vent holes. maybe someone here knows a formula for flue size versus inlet vent size. keep us updated with progress

[Ausable]

Your rig and Your maple Syrup look nice. Remember - the fire in an arch isn't the same as a wood fire in the house for heating. We want a hot fire. From your picture it like you have an ash cleanout door - try boiling with that open for more combustion air - it too much you can close it part way. Also - You have a tall enough stack - but - don't restrict the draft going up through it. See if that helps heat Your back pan better.

[jrm]

congratulations on the finished syrup! looks sweet and that what matters. as far as the rear pan, it seems like you need more draft. you pipe looks long enough but your lower venting looks small. those stove door kits are for wood stove and dont require the draft an evaporator needs for a ripping fire. the fires in the evaporator may be considered dangerous on most wood stoves. try opening the vent holes. maybe someone here knows a formula for flue size versus inlet vent size. keep us updated with progress




Your rig and Your maple Syrup look nice. Remember - the fire in an arch isn't the same as a wood fire in the house for heating. We want a hot fire. From your picture it like you have an ash cleanout door - try boiling with that open for more combustion air - it too much you can close it part way. Also - You have a tall enough stack - but - don't restrict the draft going up through it. See if that helps heat Your back pan better.

My boys voted it a success. My 5th grader, who helped quite a bit, including doing the initial holes/taps, tasted throughout the process. He was intrigued with the change from slightly sweet water to syrup. It definitely has some smokiness and butterscotch flavor to it. But, good.

I hadn't thought about the difference between this fire and an interior fire. I was keeping that door propped open and definitely had a hotter fire going. I was closing off a bit to try and keep from drafting out the front door versus the flue. On a prior post I made after my test boil, another Trader gave me something to work with in terms of inlet v outlet. Also have seen some others talking about using blower fans, but have quite figured that one out.

Thanks for the thoughts!