Long wait between boiling

[Snowmad]

So this is only my 2nd year with a "real" evaporator, a 2x6 Leader Patriot. I hate this current long spell I'm in where the sap isn't running. I've always heard of people just leaving their sap in the evaporator but I'm wondering how long it will be good for? I'm using RO'ed concentrate and it was all boiled before I last shut down (no raw sap/concentrate). I shut down on Thursday night and by the forecast it could still be another week before I boil again. I HATE to draw it off the flue pan and boil it down in the front (boiling water in the back with the valve shut off so it isn't going into the front pan of course). I did that last year and will again this year when I'm DONE but at this point I hope to have a week or two left once it warms back up. Will my sap be OK? My sugar house is heated for the sake of the RO to about 40 degrees. Just wondering what I should do, how long it will be OK, and what other people do in a long period of not being able to boil.

[SeanD]

The heated sugar house doesn't help. Pans that get down to freezing will do a little better.

You can drain the sweet into buckets and pack it in snow. Maybe boil it one more time though before you do. Your pan has been sitting a while.

Last year I did that and it still turned in a couple of days.

A lot of us are in the same boat. There is only so much you can do short of boiling it all off.

[Russell Lampron]

When the sap isn't running because it's too cold I just leave it in the evaporator and have gone for as long as 3 weeks before. If the sap isn't running because of an extended warm spell I finish it off the way that you do. Keeping your sugar house heated to 40 is right on the borderline of too warm. I would finish it off even though it's a PITA. On the bright side it will give you a chance to clean your pans.