first boil outside on the new setup.

[prettygoodatmakingsugar]

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did my first outdoor boil outside on the evaporator i put together. All in all went pretty well for the first time fireing it up wnet through about 80 gallons of sap in 5hrs and drew off about 1.5 gal . Only made a few rookie mistakes the biggest being still having a pretty decent fire when i ran out of sap i had the float set at 3/4 of a inch so i went into scramble mode for a few minutes but got it cooled down without incident not likely to make that mistake again And i need a better thermometer conection but pretty sure i got that worked out just need to go find the parts. The tapping is going pretty well i got 50 out on tubing and 15 on buckets. And also located another 160 potential taps that would all be on one line which would be nice. Probably look into running a 3/16 setup as it has a pretty good grade. Its opened up a little but still feel like my current tree locations being on the shady side are coming online slower the ones with the sun are going good.

[PerryW]

looks like the front pan from my 3x10! Looks like you can add another pan when you tap the other 160! Good luck.

It looks from the picture that some of the steam may be condensing on the bottom of the preheater pan and dripping back into the pan.

[prettygoodatmakingsugar]

The steam and condensation are deffinate issues i tried lifting and pitching it to one side and that seemed to help a little but need to figure something out. Any ideas? It also forces all the steam out the front and you can see a dang thing in the pan. And yea its a front pan from a 3x10 and will probably build a steel arch for it over the fall i will be extending it just have to find, buy or make a back pan. I am enjoying all the info on this site really a great resource.

[jake22si]

I was able to fix the condensate drip issue on my setup by overhanging the pan beyond the back of the main pan, along with a pitch and tilt.

[NhShaun]

Looks like a good set up you have going. I have a similar issue with my preheater and am looking for a fix. You don't happen to work at Smokey Goodness in Barrington do you? If so, i got to try some of your syrup on Saturday from Ken, Great tasting stuff. Also, picking up another 160 taps would be great, might have to extend your arch a bit for next year though.

[prettygoodatmakingsugar]

Sorry to be so absent been on ridiculous deadlines with work right now and between that and boiling keeps me busy. I think i sort of figured the preheater out But dont ask me why it works. If i just keep the pre heater so that all the steam has to come out the front and only fill it with about a 1/8 to 1/4 in it doesnt seem to make as much condinsation on the under side of the pan still only getting it to 110 or so. where is smoky goodness? I run a small cabinet, millwork and interior finish bussiness that for now makes more scraps than i can feed our wood stove and the arch Plus a unlimited supply of softwood bunks makes the firewood thing easy.
i was able to pull off about 4 more gallons over the past week or so
I will def need to do a bigger arch if i sink the extra taps also found another 70 or so the other day but would have a decent run to get to the road. Probably either find a 3x? Drop ir raised flue for the back or sell this pan and get a different set or arch or/and a ro setup. oh the possibilities