Jay
03-18-2004, 09:17 PM
First let me say what a great site you have here!!! This is my first go around with making syrup and it is somthing i will do for the rest of my life. I live in Orange county NY which is approx 70 miles form NYC. I borrowed 11 buckets and spiles from my uncle and tapped 5 trees around my house, i built a firebox out of cinder blocks and laid fire bricks on the bottom, i made the box just big enough to fit the pan i had made which is 24 X 36 with 8" sides. The first boil did not go so well, i didnt have my pan yet and i had sap on ice for 3 days. I didnt want to risk having the sap go bad so i used a lobster pot. I boiled down approx 35 gallons when the next thing i knew it was like TAR. everything was a lose, my wife still dose not know i had to throw away the pot. The second boil went 100 times better, i boiled down just about 40 gallons and ended up with 6 pints of syrup after filtering and bottling. From start to finish it took 12 hrs. I finished it on the stove in the house. I just had a couple of quick questions for you guys, i only filled my pan about 2 1/2 inches but on the one end and the one side it is burnt approx 2" up how could that be avoided, i didnt burn the bottom of the pan, just the sides? Will that effect the tast of my next batch? And the last thing is i have read about raised flues and drop flu evaporators.......what is the difference? Thanks for all of your time. Jay