my first boil :(

[seandicare]

well, finally got a chance to boil today...had around 30 gals between monday and today only @28 taps out......temps have been pretty much over 35f all 3 days......

got everything set up, but my wood guy never showed (again, second guy i tried, first one stood me up twice)....so had to use some old wood i had, that had been sitting out in the weather for 3-4 years...just alittle punky :o....also had some damp slab board and a couple maple saplings i had cut down early last fall...

i could not get the evap to come to a boil at all :mad:......the wood just gave a slow fire......did get some steam coming off the pans after awhile, and boiled down around 10-15 gals.....

i will admit, i have not insulated my fuel tank arch yet, so that might have had something to do with it too.

hopefully my wood comes tomorrow and i can really get this thing going.

[Bricklayer]

I ran out of dry wood a couple years ago. I searched the classifieds and found a couple places giving away free skids. Took them all. Got lucky cause they were hardwood but I use softwood ones too. They burn quick and hot. I mix it up with skid wood and dry split firewood. But even if the wood is a little damp the intense heat from the skid wood drys them out quick.

[mellondome]

i could not get the evap to come to a boil at all :mad:......the wood just gave a slow fire......did get some steam coming off the pans after awhile, and boiled down around 10-15 gals.....

.

How deep was the sap in your pan?

[nvr2l8]

If haven't already brick your fire box build up the arch at the back as best you can to an inch or two to the underside of pans, and force some air in the thing. I used to use steam pans. They are propably in the flu area? You may want them half full. Mine would scorch on the side if shallower.

[seandicare]

I actually kept them quite deep to avoid the scorching on the sides. 6in pans kept about 4.5 in deep. After reading some other posts that probably slowed the boil. But saved a lot of scrubbing.


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[eustis22]

you can keep em clean or you can make syrup. you pick.

[seandicare]

don't think the problem is so much the depth of the pan as it is poor wood.........never had a problem getting at good boil on propane at that depth....

my wood guy finally showed, but in the middle of a drenching rain......wood got damp......i loose-stacked it in the hopes the wind and sun will help dry it out enough.....some seemed to be alittle green yet, cut last spring, but had some sap boiling out i think.

if it isn't dry tomorrow when i try again, i have a couple ideas from some friends that might help get a good fire going.

[madmapler]

I would be going with at least 1/2 that depth. Most sugarmakers are around an inch or even less.

[mellondome]

4.5 in deep... you probably will not see a boil for hours... and once it does, it will be very slow. If you were to finally get it to a mild boil, it would go over the side of your pan.

What is the rig you are boiling on? Flat pans? Flues? How big?

[seandicare]

4.5 in deep... you probably will not see a boil for hours... and once it does, it will be very slow. If you were to finally get it to a mild boil, it would go over the side of your pan.

What is the rig you are boiling on? Flat pans? Flues? How big?


i am using a homemade system, fuel oil tank on it's side with 4 6in steam table pans cut in

[seandicare]

well, the wood guy came back to drop off another load, and when I mentioned I couldn't get the wood to burn, he gave me a hand........I was meant to be a firefighter not a fire bug.....lol

problem was I was using too large of pieces. once we split it down, and got it going, we put a little shop fan I had out there on it, and the sap had started to boil real good on the front pans after about an hour of warm up. could only keep it going for a couple hours, but got a decent evap rate it seems....going to fire it up again this afternoon when I get off work, to do a full evaporation test, just to see what kind of rate I am going to get on this setup.

[seandicare]

well, now that i can keep the fire going....lol i am evaporating between 4-5 gals/hour.....not able to keep it going full boil, but that was because it was my time to cook dinner too.......


talk about multi-tasking....putting lasagna together, while splitting wood, stoking fire, and keeping up with sap..........don't want to do that all the time.........right now letting the fire die down....it is starting to rain a bit, and my "enclosure" doesn't keep all the rain out yet......can't wait to build an actual building for this.

[maplestudent]

sounds like you're getting the feel of it. eventually, with tweaking and experimentation, you'll become 'one' with your evaporator.

others have suggested keeping the level of sap in your pans lower, and I would agree. less sap = better boil. however if you're multitasking like you have mentioned, deeper sap gives you a greater margin of error in timing of those tasks.

I keep a supply of birch bark on hand for starting my fires (fortunately I have a number of paper birch in my woods and I'm constantly picking pieces of the bark off the ground). when it is dry it torches up, but it will burn even if it is damp. I stack pieces of 1" x 1" wood in a log cabin style, with a little birch bark underneath it (a 5" x 5" or so piece is plenty if dry) and light it with a blow torch. pretty much instant fire.

good luck on future boils!

[seandicare]

the fun part is spitting the wood. it is all good house wood and all I have is a splitting ax right now and my back can't take much of it....trying to keep it all under 3in square.

looking at getting either a small electric splitter this summer, or even the cheap little foot operated splitter I saw on Amazon for $70

stopped into Tractor supply today, all they had was an 5ton electric for $300....... VERY TEMPTING at this point

[mellondome]

Small camp hatchet and a 2lb short handle sledge. Will do wonders for your back.

[seandicare]

was able to keep it going a good 5 hours today.......kept up with the fire and wood splitting, and was able to keep a good slow boil just about the whole time......took about an hour to get to that point.......figured once it was going, i was getting 5-6 gal/hour on this...still couldn't get much boil on the back pans, but that is probably due to not having the back ramped yet. instead i used it as a 2 stage preheater for the front pans

when i was letting the fire die down i decided to check the temp of the front pans.... 214-216F.......didn't think i was that far along...i poured straight sap into them to top them off for tonight and may draw off tomorrow and refrigerate to finish in the kitchen later.

[maple flats]

Order your wood now for next season and get it ALL split before the end of June. Then stack it, cover the top but leave the sides of the stack open for the wind and sun to hit it. Then, in Nov. move it to a dry location and it will burn great.
My wood is all 2 yrs+ seasoning, I do have it stacked outdoors, but the final staging is against the side of the sugarhouse where I built a big overhang and I have a rain gutter too. No issues.
Trying to buy seasoned wood is costly and hard to get, especially this time of year. Right now you can buy the cheaper unseasoned wood and season it yourself. If splitting is hard for you, try getting a splitter or you can even rent one and split a lot in a day. If you go that route, don't get one that is low to the ground, they are real tough on the back.

[seandicare]

Thanks for the tips. Basically what I was planning. I got 2 cords this year and maybe will use one. Then get a splitter later to get the rest split for next year


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