I boiled the 85 gallons today, will finish and bottle it tomorrow. I made two separate batches in the one boil.
It should have been a decent sap run today, but I never collected anything.
As you mentioned there could be some no sap days ahead.
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I boiled the 85 gallons today, will finish and bottle it tomorrow. I made two separate batches in the one boil.
It should have been a decent sap run today, but I never collected anything.
As you mentioned there could be some no sap days ahead.
We boiled 290 gallons to make 4+ gallons of syrup
Sap is very low sugar content for us at the moment
Collected 70 gallons of sap this morning. I may boil it tomorrow
This afternoon I finished yesterday’s 85 gallons of sap and I bottled it and made 9 litres of syrup. In the picture it looks darker than it is, and if time I will take a picture with sunlight behind them
I have to say the best tip I received on this site was from Someclown about buying welder gloves. They have been invaluable loading the firewood and grabbing and moving the pans.
I not only have been using my induction elements for preheating the sap, but I have used them for finishing and tonight I used them for bottling. It was so simple to maintain the 180 to 190 temperature throughout the bottling process.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0feR...znc4v2upLoEVkg
Looks like minimal sap flow for the next week. Hopefully the forecast changes a little. I will do a collection on Saturday so that anything in the pails and barrels do not freeze solid.
There's a slow run today, not sure how long it will last,. When I went and snowplowed my parking lots at 330 am it was only 0*c. Its now +6*c. Had a slow run yesterday as well. Hoping for another 2 day run before a big freeze this weekend and then back at it late next week by the looks of the forecast. I will collect and bury everything in the snowbank and boil it all Sunday.
Boiled my 55 litres a couple days aqo and managed close to 1.25 litres of syrup the with real nice flavor and lots of niter. I think some rain water got in one of my pails
Well I tried to boil the 70 gallons today. I had a new wind direction, but it was not a strong wind. It caused all of the steam and smoke to stay in the shelter and when it did blow out, it blew out to the entrance. At times I could not see the hand in front of my face. I limited my time in the shelter and stood out in the all day rain. I breathed in more smoke today than in my entire life combined. I am feeling it. The weather also caused a down draft that slowed the evaporator.
About 6 hours in, the evaporator stopped boiling, I tried to figure it out, but couldn’t and because I had a zoom call I had to chair, I pulled the pans off the evaporator and will finish it tomorrow. When I did that I discovered the problem. I had pushed the coals up the ramp and it was almost totally blocking the draft. Lesson learned.
I also should have learned not to stay in the shelter as long as I did.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/014t...9OeI5pSWQQzReg
This is a picture of the syrup I bottled yesterday from the third batch of the season.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/036_...FQvdEBC5NrWzNA
I am boiling again today, completing the 70 gallons from yesterday, wearing an N95 mask. Yesterday’s smoke in my lungs was not a fun thing.
I may boil the 24.5 gallons I collected this morning.
My cinder block evaporator is not smoke tight, especially after I removed the ceramic blanket material I was using as gaskets. It is becoming obvious to me that at least mine is not meant for an enclosure if the winds are not right, and if I decide to build a permanent sugar shack, I need to look for a real evaporator, or stick with this one and just build a tall roof overhead.
we boiled on a cinder arch in a Shelter Logic car tent.
My suggestion - worry less about the pan gaskets and figure out a way to at least vent the gases from the arch.
We filled the cinder blocks with sand- that stopped alot of combustion gas.
Also used the gasket, foil, sand combo to ensure the 6" stovepipe would carry away the exhaust gases.
sand, foil, sand is a good season long gasket- and easy to clean-up
Later in the afternoon, the winds changed and the smoke was not as much an issue and places that were leaking before were not as bad. If I keep the cinder block evaporator next year, I will do something different for the door.
I don’t really have any leaks on the walls, it is at the door and along side the pans.
The boil today took longer then expected. I realize now the day I had an evaporate of 11.5 gph, was the day I pulled ice out of the pails and that must have been the difference.
I finished boiling the 70 gallons and an additional 24.5 gallons. Based on the weather forecast, I likely will not have another boil for a week. Tomorrow I will collect what is in the barrels and pails before the freeze Saturday night. I do not expect much. I will also finish and bottle what I boiled today.
Picture was later in the day today when the steam and smoke were leaving the shelter, as it did for the first three boils. The N95 mask was helpful today, when the smoke was bad, but not perfect.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b9-...WxD52zaUgCL54Q