First Boil

[MaplePancakeMan]

My first boil was pretty much the most horrendous experience ive ever had with sugaring. I started at 9, i fired up my RO it had a crack inshipping that i never noticed line cracked water everywhere. Shut it down called the company and got the part rushed will be here tomorrow. Boiled the old fashioned way. It took forever the wind was ridiculous. I boiled 200 gallons of sap and got 2 gallons of syrup some of my tinted sap had to have roughly no sugar content. I fell and twisted my right knee and to top it off i must have gone just a little to high for the syrup temps, really couldn't see the thermometer because it was 11pm. I Bottled in 1/2 gallon jars and on got half rock candy another about 1/4th of the way. The other two are about the thickest syrup you can get. Anyone want to trade. I also dropped my sap pump and cracked the threading... not a big deal now but was then, burned my hand. The only other thing that could have gone wrong was the large tree on the corner crushing the evaporator. AHHHHHHH good thing i have a couple days off with the cold. Be safe, much love and agony

Steve

[Fred Henderson]

Young man you better get your act together if you plan on staying in this busness very long. Sorry that you are having so many problems.Things will work out for the better. Good luck.

[325abn]

WOW!!!

Dont ya love it??

[mountainvan]

I think everyone has a had a day or two like that in their mapling experience. I know I've had one so far this year. Sometimes the best lessons come from making mistakes. Keep at it and keep learning.

[HanginAround]

Wow, doesn't sound like fun at all.

Don't waste your thick syrup or crystal, cut it with hot sap or thin syrup, it'll be good as new. Any crystal that's left in the jar will come out with hot sap, nothing wasted.

[Fred Henderson]

Murphy's Law. if anything can go wrong it will and at the worst possible time. Hang in there.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Thank you all very much... it was just one ridiculous day. So if i dump the crystal into hot sap it will be syrup again? Or thats what i understand? I was gonna cut the thick stuff with my next batch did that last year and it made some really tasty syrup.

[Rob Harvey]

Steve, Look at the bright side---The next round has got to go better!! Good Luck Rob H.

[Russell Lampron]

And I thought I was having a bad day when I found that the high pressure control valve was cracked and leaking on my RO machine. Jury rigged it enough to use it and have a new part on the way. The boiling that night went flawlessly and I didn't hurt myself either. Hang in there MaplePancakeMan this is supposed to be fun.

Russ

[HanginAround]

Yes MPM, just rinse your jar out several times with hot sap, it will dissolve the sugars back into solution or at least loosen it from the jar, dump back in the evaporator. Won't be syrup, but you will save the sugar.

[3% Solution]

MPM,
Easy lad, easy.
This should be a good stress reliever, you and the process as one getting along.
Yup, dump all that syrup you're not happy with right back into the pan, won't hurt a thing, just going to make the pan that much sweeter.
Now, take your time, get it right the first time, this job is too labor intensive as it is, don't make more work for yourself.
When something goes to ****, work thru it, make it right, take your time!
You'll get, because you want to.
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Dave

[Sugarmaker]

MPM,
Bad days will come and go hopefully this one is well behind you and your on a more productive path today. This is a good place to vent and you will get many suggestions on situations that many of us have been through several times.

Sugarmaker

[oneoldsap]

Most wrong turns are the result of poor planning. You need to have a plan, think things through. For every action there is a reaction ( Newtons Law) Forsee the consiquences of your action. No matter how dire your situation seems it can always be worse. I was feeling really bad one day over a business deal going sour. I went to the county fair to get my mind off it. So the first person who asks me how I'm doing I start to feel sorry for myself and sort of cry in my beer without drinking any. Along comes this guys sister pushing this guy in a wheelchair. The fellow in the wheel chair had no legs.
All of the sudden I realized Things could be a whole lot worse.
Sugaring is all about patience, You can not do one without the other. My thinking is that if it isn't fun Maybe I don't need to be doing it.

[Father & Son]

MPM,
I know just exactly how you feel. I only have half of my buckets up - Can't get to my trees with my 4 wheeler or tractor, gathered about 100 gallons on Thursday & Friday. Started early Saturday morning only to have most everything I tried create 2 more steps. Finally gathered in the dark Saturday and lit the fire at 9:00 PM. Couldn't get much of a boil for the first couple of hours or get the steam out of the sugar house. Sugarmaker stopped down after he was done boiling and he left to go home at about 1:00 AM. Wasn't much sap (maybe 10-15 gallon) left in the feed tank and the hydrometer had just started to float - THAT'S WHEN I MADE MY MISTAKE! I wasn't paying close enough attention and before I knew it I caught a whif of a funny smell and instantly knew that I was making candy in the syrup channel. That 5 gallon bucket of sap everyone tells you to have handy, LISTEN TO THEM. It saved my pan and my a_ _! I learned a valuable lesson and didn't ruin any equipment.

Nuf said, days like that will happen. That one is behind me, everything is cleaned up and ready to go! Bring on the sap!

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim (F&S),
Excellent summary! I knew that little start up set back wouldn't hold you down long!:)

Turned that rig into a candy making machine??;) (Just KIDDING!!!!!)

Sugarmaker

[Father & Son]

With my last post in mind here is the question I have. I finally got a really good boil going in the syrup pan and it was almost going over the dividers, I put a couple of drops of defoamer in the second channel of the syrup pan, was this my mistake? I thought that possibly I started making syrup in the second channel. Was this the case? Should defoamer be used in the syrup pan or is that a no-no?
Thanks,
Jim

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

if defoamer has to be used in the syrup pan, put a minimal amount right next to the draw-off. this was explaind by brad from leader at several of the maple schools. defoamer breaks the surface tension and pulls liquid to where the drop(s) were put. So if you put it next to the draw-off, it will "pull" the syrup closer to where it needs to be. that's probably why you thought you were making syrup in that section.

[Sugarmaker]

Father and Son,
Good question! You should get lots of comments on this. My 2 cents is that I try to only put defomer (a drop) at the draw off and several in the rear pan. BUT if I really need it anywhere in the evaporator I will use it sparingly to keep syrup from boiling over.
Sugarmaker

[oneoldsap]

we uesd to keep 5 Gal. of sap setting on the dividers in the front pan and we used it fairly often. Then we saw a rig with a fire extinguisher. One inch copper pipe going from preheater to front pan with two drops about a foot high with ball valves on them.If things start to get hot open one or both valves and put the fire out with warm sap. Dumping cold sap into your front pan will do almost as much damage as burning them. Hot stainless steel
tends to crack if you throw cold water on it. It will also wrinkle and turn a nasty shade of blue. There are three kinds of sugarmakers, Those that have burned their pans, Those who haven't burned their pans yet. And those who lie

[MaplePancakeMan]

I think i may keep my bad batch as a lesson, its very sweet and tasty just nearly as thick as honey. On a brighter note after i have cooled off, knee feels a bit better. I did schedule and apt for an orthopedic surgeon to take a look at it. Made that mistake in high school fell on my left knee and never got it looked at for almost 2 years turns out i had a tear in my lateral meniscus that could have been repaired if i got it checked earlier. So IF i need surgery i'll have a better chance at saving it. But i digress i collected sunday and i had a few yellowish trees so i wasn't happy i checked today and wasn't expecting more than an 1" of liquid in the buckets but most were half-full solid ice since its currently 1 degree but wet the top and tasted it and its super sweet hoping the next batch will be better, if it ever thaws out. Thank you everyone. i was doomed for a bad day since last year went flawless.

[Fred Henderson]

we uesd to keep 5 Gal. of sap setting on the dividers in the front pan and we used it fairly often. Then we saw a rig with a fire extinguisher. One inch copper pipe going from preheater to front pan with two drops about a foot high with ball valves on them.If things start to get hot open one or both valves and put the fire out with warm sap. Dumping cold sap into your front pan will do almost as much damage as burning them. Hot stainless steel
tends to crack if you throw cold water on it. It will also wrinkle and turn a nasty shade of blue. There are three kinds of sugarmakers, Those that have burned their pans, Those who haven't burned their pans yet. And those who lie

And there are those that have come so---- ooooooooo close to burning there pan that it would scare you. It sure did me and it gave me a whole lot more respect for the word sugarmaker.

[3% Solution]

MPM,
I also have a bad knee, had an operation many tears ago and it's 90% good, but I can tell when I'm approaching 90%.
Just take your time, enjoy life at one point it will fly by and then go faster.
Yellow sap is nothing, take it, boil it, and enjoy the syrup it makes.
Jim; I usually put defoamer in my flue pan and very seldom have to use it in the syrup pan, I don't like to use it there, as you said it does funky things and it makes me nervous.
I will usually bail out of my flue pan into the syrup pan if things get too close or I get a bit concerned. At least it's warm sap going in not cold.
This is a great site, I pick up different things everyday!!
Enjoy!
Dave