Geauga County Ohio (Munson) has its first gallon! see pics

[WoodButcher]

well guys, thanks to all your help, i got my first gallon of grade A medium amber goodness! heres a few pics of my equipment thats evolving every hour i burn ....

http://photobucket.com/WOODBUTCHER_2009

[Tomahawk]

well guys, thanks to all your help, i got my first gallon of grade A medium amber goodness! heres a few pics of my equipment thats evolving every hour i burn ....

http://photobucket.com/WOODBUTCHER_2009



Nice!

Love the preheater, great idea.

I have a question for you (or anyone else that boils using wood):

How do you regulate the heat when your nearing the end of the boil?

How do you not "burn the pan?"

I'm thinking about making a small pit like yours and burning wood next year but I can't figure out how to end it?

[WoodButcher]

simple, all i do is buy a digital thermometer at wal mart that has a separate probe on a wire thats about 2' long(trust me youll need it) . i just dangle the probe in the middle of the pan, and mine has a temperature alert i can set so it beeps at about 215-217 degrees. then i take my welders gloves, grab the evap pan and dump all its contents (never more than a gallon) into another pot to bring to a boil on my kitchen stove with the fan on high so i dont make a mess.

whats an art form is when to pull the pan off the fire. i get spooked about burning the syrup so i pull off earlier than i should, and with the house stove burner at high, it takes me another 15-20 minutes to boil it to 219 degrees. then i pour that pan into another pan that has a metal sifter culinary tool that sits on the top of the pan. i line that sifter with a freshly boiled(gotta have it nice n hot) piece of 18"x18" orlon for filtering, then pour it in and wait.

once its finally done filtering, i put the filtered syrup on the burner, get it up to 185 degrees(no higher than 190!) and then bottle it in mason jars. done!

i know it sounds like a lot but its all trial and error. this time im gonna not pull it off the fire until its about 218, so then itll only take 5-10 minutes inside to cook. it cools off while you move from outside to inside anyhoo. what a lot of people do is use a turkey fryer burner. i was thinking of just using a propane tank and hook up one of those single burners people use at clam bakes... essentially the same thing.
theres just so many utensils i use it might get messy in my yard.

good luck

[Fred Henderson]

To keep from burning the pan is simple, either remove the pan or remove the fire which is the case with large evaporators. I removed my fire twice on the last boil. Once because I had a leak in my condensate drain pipe and again when ran out of sap.

[KenWP]

Woodbutcher how much steam off your syrup pan condenses on the bottom of your preheater and drops back in the pan. And where in the world did you find a pot that big plus the preheater pan.

[WoodButcher]

Ken ,

not too much condenses. but i will think of a way to improvise. thanks for the idea....

if you know anyone with a restaurant or fine wine shop, sometimes theyll have big champagne buckets with stands that theyll use for catering parties or whatnot. pretty common in the spirits business.

the 23" diameter drum x 10" high is a 55gal drum cut. works great. im burning beach and sugar maple and the flames are hittin the pan, so its gotta be getting around 700 degrees or so. . . but the pan has taken 6 day long boils so far , its tough.

i got firebrick, but havent needed it to line the insides of the cinder blocks. i can boil cold sap when i start going in about 20minutes... not bad for about 8 gallons of sap in the pan.
i did line the ground with bricks , so the wood wont lay on the ground. about it .

[BarrelBoiler]

woodbutcher, if it hasn't happened to you it probably will, when the syrup is getting close, really close it can boilover in a flash. my thought is get it close in your setup and pull it off the fire and finish inside. you can also let the fire die when you get close to the end, if it's steamin' waters leavin'

[WoodButcher]

barrel,

i did notice that about 15 minutes into it being on the pot inside it likes to boil tan goodness all over... i just blow on it and it resides...

i dont mind bringing it in... heack by the time it really bothers me, the season will be over and ill be building a new evap for next year with a draw off! woo hoo!

[Tomahawk]

barrel,

i did notice that about 15 minutes into it being on the pot inside it likes to boil tan goodness all over... i just blow on it and it resides...

i dont mind bringing it in... heack by the time it really bothers me, the season will be over and ill be building a new evap for next year with a draw off! woo hoo!

I'm gonna try to copy your setup for next year -- do I have to pay royalities or anything?

So, the 55 gallon drum -- what did it hold originally? Do you try to find one that was used for food and if not, don't you get paint, original content or rust residual?

Did you mention your burn rate? How many gallons per hour can you evaporate with that setup?

Can you estimate how much wood you burned per gallon or your total?

In the below picture, what's covering the front of the fire? It looks like a piece of flashing or something? What's it do?

Thanks!!!

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z104/italianjeremy/Sugarin2009/IMG_1715Large.jpg

[WoodButcher]

lot of Qs....

well, you usually burn about 1 gallon of sap per sq ft of surface area, this has 2 sq ft , so i burned at about 2-3 gals per hour... not too bad, but can only make about 3qts in one day.

it was an old food grade drum , but it was so old and rusted and painted, i took a wire cup brush and put it on my drill, and a angle grinder with wire wheel to buff the heck out of it to get the paint and rust off the first 4" inside, so its bare metal inside. i get no residue. i filter the sap with cheese cloth , and then the syrup with cheese cloth before i bring it inside (still thin) . then when i boil it slowly inside to a rate of about 67 brix i filter with a scorching hot water soaked orlon filter (helps with flow through it) and thats it. may be slightly cloudy, but the syrup has no sugar sand and i keep it in mason jars so youde know .
ar as wood..... ive got a ton of scrap laying around, some people use pallets, etc. its just like a open masonry fireplace in your home. about 3 pieces every half hour, but these are thin pieces, about the size of your forearm. i learned real quick to raise the pot higher cus the syrup tasted 'smokey' i also REALLY think the culprit for this smokey smell was the awning over the pot. while its 4' above the pot, i think it made the smoke swirl above it and give it its essence. make it so the flames just touch the pan. the setup you see right now is the original, i added one 3" red brick to the height on top of the cinder blocks. not pure buttery goodness. you want the fire going well to keep that boil, but not blazing the bottom pan all to hell.

if your worried about wood, call your local arborist /tree service. ask em when they cut some poplar or other junk wood if you can have it . . .people burn pallets for gods sake.

that piece of metal in front is a 18x24" piece of aluminum, about 24ga. i used to keep the heat under the pot... as you can see in the one photo of the first method, the garbage can lid(on photo site) . it works well, helped burn rate .

the royalty you pay after all those questions is a pint of your finished syrup ! :)

[Tomahawk]

I can do that! A small price to pay for your expertise.

Thanks WoodB for all the answers, i really appreciate it.

I have 11 months to get everything i need, should work well.

Thanks again and good luck with the rest of your season!

[WoodButcher]

glad i could help Tomahawk. youll be counting the days till next season.. trust me.