new guy ,got questions

[Phil and Cody's Mapleland]

Hi guy's my first adventure into making maple syrup ..and what fun it is .But I've got a few questions ,,I've been looking at the posts to get most of my answers ,but here goes ..
So I gathered,about 60 gallons on sap from ,20 to 40 trees ,,Started off as 7 and everytime I go for a walk in the back woods I find more ,so I'm up to 40 taps and got a 3 foot by 4 foot tray geared up with 2.5 foot stand welded plate on three sides to concentrate the heat better ..
So on the weekend I boiled the 60 gallons down to about 6 to 8 ,,Brix # 15 on my 0 to 32 brix refractometer I borrowed from work ( Refinery Lab) all on this open flame evaporator I made ,,It took 7 hours to boil it this far is that ok ? lots a fire ash got in tray ,but strained out with a 75 micron sieve.so I want to know if I should finish off the 15 brix stuff or add this weeks sap to it and boil it down again ?
Looks like great weather this week for sap ,I'm limited in my holding capacity and end up freezing sap in 5 gallon containers,but when it came to boil day I ended up melting the side out of a bucket of frozen sap ,,,OOPS!!!
I'll post some pic's of my suger shack ,,more of a suger rock right now .but got big plans for next year !!I've got loads more questions ,but thought I'd start with a couple ..Finding it very hard around here to get supplies ,that will be in my latter posts ,,,
thanks guys ,,
I did boil a small amount off for pancakes this morning ,,,Man it was great ,fair bite of sand in the bottem,(I've got no filters at all sept my 75 micron sieve ,,thought about using a pillowcase ,,,would that help?) sure tasted good though ,,little smokey flavor ,,it was lighter then the storebought Canada #1 medium so guess thats good anyway the wife liked it and so did the boy ,,and thats all that matters ain't it ?

[Pete33Vt]

Your boil time sounds about right, especially outdoors. As far as filtering you could try two filters. Or get on to the Maple guys website and see what they have for filters, they could ship them I am sure. Also you could try a pillow case just make sure you run it through hot water then rig it out really good. That way it will allow the syrup to go through easier.
Good luck, Welcome aboard and enjoy

[HanginAround]

Hi P & C... nice to see another Maritimer on the site. Welcome, and feel free to ask your questions.

Your boil time is probably fine, it takes way longer than you think it should, especially on a flat pan and outdoors at that. I help a friend that has a small homemade arch with a 2 x 5 flat pan, and I bet we've boiled 24+ hours in the last three days... for a total of 6 Imp gl of syrup.

As far as finishing or adding, doesn't really matter, either way is fine. We usually concentrate and store in pails one day, do the same the next, and then combine them to finish them, but all depends, you won't see much difference in grade either way.

What end of NS are you in? There are suppliers in NS, plus the people that own this site are maple suppliers in NH, you shouldn't have trouble finding what you need, everything is only the price of a courier away.

[TapME]

Phil&cody's welcome to the trader. I and my 14 yr. old sap hauler have been making syrup on flat bottom pans for two years now and it is a lot of fun. Takes a long time to boil (ours we can do a gallon and half in about 6 hours and then finsh off in the house or on the turkey frier) i have not tried to leave any unfinished syurp in the pan and start the boil again,as the animals may have their fill before we do. Made a block arch this year and has worked very well. Ours has a 8 inch 8 foot stack and a peice of sheet metal for draft control. The draft is nice as at times the pan rolls in a boil all over. Still new to the sugar thingand learingall the time. Enjoy, and have fun.