Collected 120 gallons since Sunday morning. Not to shabby for 75 taps on gravity tubing. Cleaned up my pan and working making it sweet again tonight.
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Collected 120 gallons since Sunday morning. Not to shabby for 75 taps on gravity tubing. Cleaned up my pan and working making it sweet again tonight.
Collected another 275 gallons in the past 4 days with 25in currently on my Shurflo 4008, sap is flowing!
RO started up tonight with the hope to boil off another 60 gallons of concentrate tomorrow afternoon.
Looking out our kitchen window at 5 AM I can see a full 4 gal bucket that had about 3" in it last night. I know whats on the agenda today.............
Entered into the season on Sunday afternoon, couldn't hold back anymore with the weather forecast, Put in 30 taps, on 2- 3/16" nat-vac lines Sunday night. Collected 55gal Monday Morning at 2%. Added another 3/16" line with 15 taps Monday night, Collected 75 gallons this morning 7am, read 2%. I suspect its still running as I type, will check later today. All taps in Middlefield/Durham so far. I'm still waiting to tap in Somers on buckets, and will have a few more lines in Durham/Middlefield to put in.
In other news, I bought and put together an RO kit from the ROBucket, after years of window shopping....And i have to say, I can not believe it took me so long to take the plunge. I'm turning 2% into 8% with one pass. I'm amazed. I cant wait to boil this weekend and make some sweet!
Well, it turns out I did slightly warp my pan. Right by the draw off point. Not too bad though, and taught me to be way more careful.
I was able to get the burnt spots out and had another run today. Boiled roughly 23 gallons. Very happy with my 2x3 so far. Just need to time the cool down/final draw of the day.
That brings me to my next question...I have a few gallons left in the pan and will cap it tonight once my rig is cooled down enough. I can’t boil again until Sunday. Would the sap that’s currently in the pan be ok to start with on Sunday? It’s a mix of fresh sap and reduced sap.
Again, I’m new to the evaporator. I’m used to finishing all I started with on turkey fryers.
Thanks guys!
If you can fit it in a bucket and store the pan contents in the fridge or freezer untill you are ready to boil again that is the safest bet.
Friday and Saturday look to be a natural freezer herewith temps going into the single digits. So chances are your pan will do just fine tomorrow and Thursday. If you have a chance to light a quick fire just to get the pan to boiling even for a minute tomorrow night or Thursday night that will also help keep anything from spoiling.
When it's going down to single numbers [as expected fri night] I drain my whole evaporator. May be overkill, but if the drop flues freeze & crack a seam, you're out of business. It gives me a chance to scrub out the front finishing section, which after 500 gal or so has sand stuck to it anyway. I have had the 5 gal pails i've removed freeze almost solid.
Ill do that today. Rig was still hot last night, so I couldn't drain last night. I appreciate the advice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cjadamec
I agree, best to drain into a pail in the event of a freeze if your shack is unheated or your just open air. Theyre are little tricks people use, like having a lite lightbulb close to the pan so it stays thawed, or start a small fire everyday to keep it warm. The small fire thing also helps keep the sweet in the pan stay 'sterile' so it can say in the pan for a few days without you having to finish it off.....that said, i can only boil weekends so I prefer the safety of draining into a bucket at the end of each run. I made the mistake my first year with my mason of not draining it only to return the next day to find the floor of the shack with 5 gallons of sweet on the floor as the brass drawoff valve froze and cracked, then thawed and drained the pan..... From then, on I drain, and make sure i leave the valve open at the end of the day.Quote:
Originally Posted by aviboy97
Also, I wouldnt worry about the little warps here and there, they can be fixed. My mason pan has all types of 'character' and she still runs great. Youll learn the level you need to maintain so you wont burn. But, little warps in the bottom is inevitable.
Just added a shurflo 4048 this afternoon to my set up what a night and day difference it makes!!