Horrible Newbie Mistake

[Paul01036]

After boiling all weekend and drawing off to a pot to fine tune the syrup a more controlled environment, I got distracted and burned it, all of it. If I’ve read once I’ve read it a thousand times on the forum NEVER LEAVE YOUR SYRUP ALONE!!

The only positive is it was in a pot and not the evaporator. I guess there is always next weekend. I’ve learned a big lesson.

[Swingpure]

After boiling all weekend and drawing off to a pot to fine tune the syrup a more controlled environment, I got distracted and burned it, all of it. If I’ve read once I’ve read it a thousand times on the forum NEVER LEAVE YOUR SYRUP ALONE!!

The only positive is it was in a pot and not the evaporator. I guess there is always next weekend. I’ve learned a big lesson.

Sorry to hear it and thanks for sharing, I will try and be extra vigilant. I know I will have some newbie errors, hopefully not too many.

[berkshires]

Sorry to hear it. We've all done it. It sucks.

Gabe

[Chickenman]

Well now you can call yourself a sugar maker as we have all done it...at least once.

[jrgagne99]

Yup, you're not a real sugarmaker until you've scorched a pan.

[Ghs57]

Hard learned lessons usually stick. This is why the OSB (Oh *No* Bucket) is next to the evap at all times. Leaving valves open and dumping sap or concentrate on the ground is another. Stay calm and carry on.

[johnpjackson]

Oh my gosh, I feel for you!! I had my first disaster similarly a few weekends ago. I'd been boiling for ~20 hours straight, and then fell asleep by accident for ~20 minutes. There was ~3 gallons of almost finished syrup in the evaporator. It all burned, and the bottom of my beautiful pan is now all wavy. It still works, and I'm grateful for that. But the loss of all that syrup and the work that went into it, plus my pan's permanent loss of precision beauty - owch!!

Like you said, at least your evaporator was spared. Cross your fingers for more sap and another try this season! :)

[DaveB]

Hard learned lessons usually stick. This is why the OSB (Oh *No* Bucket) is next to the evap at all times. Leaving valves open and dumping sap or concentrate on the ground is another. Stay calm and carry on.

I call that my "Oh Crap Sap" bucket. I make that part of start up. I start the fire, empty the five gallon bucket from the previous day/boil and fill up another one from the main tank and put it by the evaporator.

We've all done that at least once. Or twice. Maybe more but I'm not admitting any more than 2 in my 30+ years of boiling. :D

[Paul01036]

All great feeback, thank you. I was able to pull off a few gallons after all but none the less this stung a bit. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.

[berkshires]

Boiling is usually a solitary experience for me. Yesterday my sister and bother in law were visiting, and in a moment of distraction I almost burned the pan. Fortunately I dumped a quart into the syrup channel just as it was about to foam over, cranked the spigot of sap feeding the pan up to max, and added a few drops of defoamer. They got a bit of a show!

GO

[DrTimPerkins]

Boiling is usually a solitary experience for me. Yesterday my sister and bother in law were visiting, and in a moment of distraction I almost burned the pan. Fortunately I dumped a quart into the syrup channel just as it was about to foam over, cranked the spigot of sap feeding the pan up to max, and added a few drops of defoamer. They got a bit of a show!

Typically this experience is also accompanied by some rather interesting vocalizations coming from the sugarmaker...so they might have gotten a show with audio rated for "mature" audiences. :o In any case...happy to hear you caught it just in time.

[Ghs57]

Typically this experience is also accompanied by some rather interesting vocalizations coming from the sugarmaker...so they might have gotten a show with audio rated for "mature" audiences. :o In any case...happy to hear you caught it just in time.

Nothing adds color to the conversation like hitting you thumb with a hammer or something going wrong in the sugar shack.

[Paul01036]

Boiling is usually a solitary experience for me. Yesterday my sister and bother in law were visiting, and in a moment of distraction I almost burned the pan. Fortunately I dumped a quart into the syrup channel just as it was about to foam over, cranked the spigot of sap feeding the pan up to max, and added a few drops of defoamer. They got a bit of a show!

GO
As they say, the show must go on! It sounds like there was so much going on in a short period you were a well oiled machine. I am sure they were very impressed!

[Sinoed09]

I left a batch of near syrup with my husband to watch so it didn’t burn and he told me he “caught it just in time”. I poured something very similar to Guinness out of the pot into a mason jar. I put it in the fridge and labelled it “dark roast” which I thought was hilarious. I don’t think I’m getting much more help with sugaring based on the look I got though. ��

[Sugarmaker]

As Jim of Father and Son would say while making syrup "at any one moment your only 15 seconds from disaster"!

I would say that you are now a sugarmaker!

I had syrup heating in the canner recently. was distracted with a visitor. Came back in the kitchen in about 20 min and realized I had left 10 gallons of syrup on high heat to bring to 180. Good news someone was watching over me. the propane bottle decided that was the time to run out of fuel. All was good, temp was 120! Whew! I dodged a bullet on that one for sure!
A water jacketed canner would be much safer! May add that to the list of items i should have too.
Regards,
Chris