New to the forum with a couple questions...
Hello all.
I've read a few discussions before registering and this seems like the right place to be! Lots of knowledgeable folk out there.
I'm based in Ottawa, and have been boiling the goodness for a couple yrs on a very small scale with my kids. The first yr, with around 20 buckets/taps we made some very expensive syrup on a propane burner with a round stainless steel pot - battling the elements and trying to keep the wind at bay. The second yr, with around 50 taps, I used two half 45 gallon drums(wood fired) with welded doors and two stainless pans - better but still pretty inefficient. This year I recently got a great deal on a 18"X5' D&G arch with three flat pans and hope to do around 80 taps. I really can't wait. The kids, and my wife, really don't understand the excitement.
I do have a couple questions, mainly around trying to keep the costs at a minimum this yr. Any help is appreciated...
1. Do you think that I can get away with using a 18"X20" flat pan on a 16"X16" Martin 65,000BTU propane burner for finishing purposes. This would be ideal as I could just take one of my pans from the evaporator and plunk it on the burner.
2. I'm thinking of making a pre-heater out of copper by wrapping the stove pipe with copper tubing and putting a pretty simple tap on the end - something that I can set at a dribble into the last pan closest to the stove-pipe. Further to this idea - does it matter if the tap is brass or SS? - ball valve or other? (I know that I'll have to transfer the sap manually from the last pan to the 1st and 2nd since more is getting going the 3rd.
Thanks for any thoughts on this.
Kevin
