Jlosier5113
03-08-2016, 02:25 PM
Hello all! Thank you for providing such great information on this site. If I had any question, this was the first place I looked.
With that said, let me share a little background. I moved into this house that already had a sugar shack behind it. It had a homemade Woodstove out of a 50 gallon drum with a 2x3 evaporator pan on top of it. Even had a preheat pan with a large barrel on the outside to dump all the sap in and turning a valve on the inside to let in as little or as much as you wanted. The previous owner must have spent a lot of time with this! I inherited the shack and the things listed above but didn't have anything else. I checked here and talked to my neighbor and borrowed 9 taps from him. I happen to find 9 buckets. Anyway, I collected around 20 gallons the first couple days, 30 gallons the second round, and today I got another 20 or so.
My first attempt at boiling, I made lava. I checked maple trader, realized what I did wrong and corrected it. I did not have enough sap in the pan. This time I left 1 1/2 to 2" of sap in the evap at all times. I was able to pull off enough syrup and finished in the house to fill 1 8oz and 1 4oz mason jar. It is quite tasty and addicting!
Today is my last day. I have to go out of town and need your help with several things.
#1 How can I get the syrup to 219 in the evap pan without making lava? It boiled so fast that I couldn't keep the temp steady. When I try to add syrup to keep the levels to 1 1/2", the syrup cools and I almost have to start over. My evap pan is 3 partitions. Seems to be built according to the specs on this site.
#2 since I will be done today, how do I draw off the remaining syrup with destroying my pan? Do I just let the fire die, drain it, and finish a ton of syrup on the stove?
And #3 sap is still flowing but I will be needing to head out of town. Can I pull the taps from the tree or wait until I get back? I want to do what's best for these tasty trees so I can cherish this hobby again next year!
Thank you all! I look forward to your responses. Sorry this is such a long post.
Jeremy
With that said, let me share a little background. I moved into this house that already had a sugar shack behind it. It had a homemade Woodstove out of a 50 gallon drum with a 2x3 evaporator pan on top of it. Even had a preheat pan with a large barrel on the outside to dump all the sap in and turning a valve on the inside to let in as little or as much as you wanted. The previous owner must have spent a lot of time with this! I inherited the shack and the things listed above but didn't have anything else. I checked here and talked to my neighbor and borrowed 9 taps from him. I happen to find 9 buckets. Anyway, I collected around 20 gallons the first couple days, 30 gallons the second round, and today I got another 20 or so.
My first attempt at boiling, I made lava. I checked maple trader, realized what I did wrong and corrected it. I did not have enough sap in the pan. This time I left 1 1/2 to 2" of sap in the evap at all times. I was able to pull off enough syrup and finished in the house to fill 1 8oz and 1 4oz mason jar. It is quite tasty and addicting!
Today is my last day. I have to go out of town and need your help with several things.
#1 How can I get the syrup to 219 in the evap pan without making lava? It boiled so fast that I couldn't keep the temp steady. When I try to add syrup to keep the levels to 1 1/2", the syrup cools and I almost have to start over. My evap pan is 3 partitions. Seems to be built according to the specs on this site.
#2 since I will be done today, how do I draw off the remaining syrup with destroying my pan? Do I just let the fire die, drain it, and finish a ton of syrup on the stove?
And #3 sap is still flowing but I will be needing to head out of town. Can I pull the taps from the tree or wait until I get back? I want to do what's best for these tasty trees so I can cherish this hobby again next year!
Thank you all! I look forward to your responses. Sorry this is such a long post.
Jeremy