My plan 2022/23

Collected 25 gallons of sap this morning, sap that flowed after 4 pm yesterday. I got it collected before the snowstorm arrived. The temperatures will warm late this afternoon and overnight and we might have 11 hours above freezing.

I am going to boil a little less often to reduce the number of setups and cleanups, so boils will occur every two or three days. That will also give me more sap to boil and allow me to have drawoffs with out fear of running out of sap. Next boil will be Monday.

The highlight of the day was I made maple syrup snow candy for the first time for my neighbour’s four kids. It tasted great. Some lessons learned on when to place the popsicle sticks into the candy. We made it inside my garage as the snow was falling sideways with the strong winds.

It made me very happy to make it. I used 500 ml of syrup heated on a turkey fryer.

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What a great guy you are. You certainly made their day, you can tell by all the smiling faces.

I know the smiles on their faces made you feel fantastic!

I am boiling again today. I have 90 gallons of available sap to boil and the sap is running in the collection barrels. Yesterday I had my best flow day yet, despite appearing to be the least likely with the snow and it not getting above freezing until mid afternoon. Today it is bright and sunny, but it only dropped a little below freezing last night, so the trees did not have a huge opportunity to fully recharge.

I put some ceramic blanket material between my wooden door handles and the concrete patio stone door. It seems to have slowed the handles burning away.

Today so far is going very predictably. I am probably the most relaxed I have been for a boil this season. I now bring lots of water out to drink. I found I was not drinking enough before. I like the canola oil as a defoamer. I use an eye dropper to dispense it.

One thing I do, that I know others prefer not to do, is I finish, filter and bottle on the same day I boil. Just something in my character that wants to see the end product of all of my hard work that day. I have had zero issues with focus or making mistakes. I finish it in my heated garage where I have a TV. So tonight the hockey game will be on while I do the Finishing, Filtering and Bottling.

Finished, filtered and bottled 10.75 L in time to watch the 3rd period in the house. The syrup tastes amazing. The vacuum filter impresses me each time I use it.

I will boil again tomorrow, I believe I had my best flow of the season today, we will see tomorrow morning when I collect it.

Glad to hear everything is going well. You have worked very hard for well over a year to get to this point, now ENJOY, ENJOY. Relax and get comfortable running your rig.

Boiling again today and should boil again tomorrow. Gorgeous day and the sap is flowing well.

I have always heard that things happen fast before you draw off, but it seems to take forever to get from 58 Brix to 64 Brix. I want to get closer to 65 or 66 Brix, but I have either run out of time or sap, and this is after 6 or 7 hours of boiling.i have drawn off at 62 and 63 Brix as well.

All is good and I finish it in the garage and make great syrup, but I just trying to understand the happening fast. Maybe it happens fast when it is closer to 66 Brix.

I will have a longer boil today and I have lots of sap so I will see if I can get closer to 65 Brix today.

Why are you drawing off early instead of taking it all the way to syrup? You are fighting yourself by doing so and making it harder to sweeten the pan if you are constantly pulling off low density syrup to boil elsewhere. Example the other night i had a large draw off of syrup right before i shut the rig down (last five gallons of sap) and then the next time i boiled it took a while to get my first draw. Usually my first draw happens within the first hour of getting things going again but it took a while to get things back to syrup for my draw because i took so much sugar out the night before. That not a bad thing just something to understand.

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Originally Posted by The Heldeberg Sapper

Why are you drawing off early instead of taking it all the way to syrup? You are fighting yourself by doing so and making it harder to sweeten the pan if you are constantly pulling off low density syrup to boil elsewhere. Example the other night i had a large draw off of syrup right before i shut the rig down (last five gallons of sap) and then the next time i boiled it took a while to get my first draw. Usually my first draw happens within the first hour of getting things going again but it took a while to get things back to syrup for my draw because i took so much sugar out the night before. That not a bad thing just something to understand.

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I have been drawing off early because I was either running out of sap to have enough for the cool down period of the evaporator or running out of time. Today I have lots of sap and lots of time, so I will try to get it to 65 or 66 Brix.

Thanks that was interesting fact about drawing off early affects the next boil and that is exactly what is happening to me. I have to wait 6+ hours for the next draw off. I will be more patient today.

Thanks for the advice!

I changed the interval between firing times from 8 minutes to 10 minutes. It has not hurt my boil rate and may have helped it. I will know for sure in 15 minutes when I finish another hour of boiling time. I am getting my 13 gph and it might be a hair better.

Whenever I opened the door and loaded the wood, I noticed I lost a little bit of the boil at the front of the channels momentarily. By opening the door less often that will reduce the lessened boil times.

My evaporator is at ground level. To load the wood, you have to squat down and your face is fairly close to the door. My face is getting a little red from being slightly cooked. Opening the door less times will also help with that.

Also loading it less often makes the pace a little less hectic. If I drank alcohol which I don’t, I would actually have a brief time for a sip of a brewsky.

I changed the sound of my timer. The old one was wearing on me, my current one is much more pleasant.

I have made four batches of syrup so far. An amber colour, but a little lighter than last year’s.

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Amazon delivered another package of ceramic blanket just in time prior to today’s boil. I was able to cut one piece that fits between the pan and basestack. Before it was a patchwork of pieces.

I did cut some new door handles out of ironwood. Unsure how good it will be, but it has the right name. The ceramic blanket pieces I put between the existing door and handles seem to help. I will be cutting better sized pieces for the new handles.

I guess my leg was a little too close to the firebox entrance while loading wood. It melted the lower portion of one leg of the snow pants. 8 got them 10 years ago from Canadian Tire on sale for $20, so they do not owe me anything.

I am starting to appreciate the “fireman” who loaded the wood on the old steam locomotives.

This sounds over kill, but you could put a grinding face shield on when loading the wood. To deflect the heat

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

I did cut some new door handles out of ironwood. Unsure how good it will be, but it has the right name.

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It's the only wood I have ever seen sink when put in water and make sparks when cutting with a chainsaw but I'm sure there are more types that sink but don't grow in my area that I know of
Also makes good heat in the wood stove when seasoned properly

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Originally Posted by Brien

This sounds over kill, but you could put a grinding face shield on when loading the wood. To deflect the heat

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Thanks, I was thinking the same thing. My first day I am not boiling, I am going to check them out, which should be Wednesday.

Today I have boiled longer than the other days, (7.5 hours at full boil) and I have put 103 gallons of sap in the feed tank. I will stop adding wood when I get down to 16 gallons, and still I have not made syrup. Once again it is getting close.

I have a full boil on the last three channels, a boil at the end of the first channel, I am going through the sap but no syrup yet. I still have about 20 minutes for it to happen.

In the end it almost reached 65 Brix, so I pulled it. It was not without much thought of leaving it until the next boil to maximize the sweet for the next boil. I did bottle some great tasting syrup.

Tomorrow I already know I will have my biggest collection of the season. Still not great tap wise, but I will be grateful for it and will boil again Tuesday. I will likely collect part way through the boil and have my wife watch the pan.

Wednesday I will get the suggested faceshield.

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing. My first day I am not boiling, I am going to check them out, which should be Wednesday.

Today I have boiled longer than the other days, (7.5 hours at full boil) and I have put 103 gallons of sap in the feed tank. I will stop adding wood when I get down to 16 gallons, and still I have not made syrup. Once again it is getting close.

I have a full boil on the last three channels, a boil at the end of the first channel, I am going through the sap but no syrup yet. I still have about 20 minutes for it to happen.

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If you are going 7.5 hrs without a draw, something is not right. How deep are you keeping the pan? Are you keeping it fairly steady, or is the level fluctuating up and down a lot?

GO

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Originally Posted by berkshires

If you are going 7.5 hrs without a draw, something is not right. How deep are you keeping the pan? Are you keeping it fairly steady, or is the level fluctuating up and down a lot?

GO

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2” deep and it is steady.

The only thing I can think of is I draw off too much at a time (approx 2.5 to 3 gallons) and maybe it is almost like I am starting all over again?

I am boiling again today.

Edit : The odd thing is I am making the right amount of syrup for the gallons I boil, it is almost like I am batch boiling.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

2” deep and it is steady.

The only thing I can think of is I draw off too much at a time (approx 2.5 to 3 gallons) and maybe it is almost like I am starting all over again?

I am boiling again today.

Edit : The odd thing is I am making the right amount of syrup for the gallons I boil, it is almost like I am batch boiling.

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Dropping your depth to 1.5" will help with your establishing your gradient.

In regards to pulling off 2-3 gallons of sweet everyday think of it like this, you are trying to save $66 to buy yourself something nice and you started out with only a couple bucks. Every hour you make some money and after a days work you are at 62 dollars. But instead of keeping that $62 dollars for the next day you end up spending $40. Now the next day you are going to have to work all day again just to get close to you $66 goal.

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

2” deep and it is steady.

The only thing I can think of is I draw off too much at a time (approx 2.5 to 3 gallons) and maybe it is almost like I am starting all over again?

I am boiling again today.

Edit : The odd thing is I am making the right amount of syrup for the gallons I boil, it is almost like I am batch boil
ing.

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2.5 to 3 gallons in a day, or in a single draw? Wow, if it's the former, I've never had a draw that size but if you have a poor gradient that could make that happen. If I ever had a draw that size my temp would spike to like 40 above and my pan would catch fire. I wonder how you manage it. Are you just opening up and dumping a ton of syrup in a minute or so or is that one long draw over a half hour?

GO

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

2” deep and it is steady.

The only thing I can think of is I draw off too much at a time (approx 2.5 to 3 gallons) and maybe it is almost like I am starting all over again?

I am boiling again today.

Edit : The odd thing is I am making the right amount of syrup for the gallons I boil, it is almost like I am batch boiling.

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Following your thread and trying to figure out what you are doing...in the back of my head I kind of always felt like you were just batch boiling.

Again...150 gallons to sweeten a 2x4 pan. Once sweet...every 40 gallons of sap you add you can draw off a gallon. It would take you about 4 hours to boil 40 gallons of fresh sap...so a 1 gallon draw off for every 4 hours of boiling. If you're going 7.5 hours without a draw-off your pan is no longer sweet. And that's probably because you're drawing off 3 gallons at a time which you're then finishing inside.

Out of curiosity, is it possible your dividers are just tacked down, and a lot of sap is mixing between them? Probably not, but it could explain this.

GO

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Originally Posted by berkshires

Out of curiosity, is it possible your dividers are just tacked down, and a lot of sap is mixing between them? Probably not, but it could explain this.

GO

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Dividers are solid welded.

Just out of co-incidence I had a draw off three hours into the boil this afternoon. Maybe I left more sweet in the pan last night. We will see if I get another draw later today.

Thanks for the advice.

I am not going to make any end of the tapping season predictions based on the long range forecast, but what looked like 2 more weeks of unlimited flows, certainly looks more finite now. I know the forecast will change more than a dozen times, but it has me thinking about the last day of boiling on the 2x4 divided pan.

My pan has 2” of sap depth in it and when I stop adding wood to the firebox, I need 15 gallons of sap in the head tank to feed the pan while it cools down and it uses almost every drop of the 15 gallons before it stops steaming. My plan was to only have 10 gallons in the feed tank on the final day, when I stop firing, and then let the pan level boil down to about an inch, give or take. Draw it off once it had cooled down, then finish it on a turkey fryer.

Is this a reasonable plan or a dangerous one?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

My pan has 2” of sap depth in it and when I stop adding wood to the firebox, I need 15 gallons of sap in the head tank to feed the pan while it cools down and it uses almost every drop of the 15 gallons before it stops steaming. My plan was to only have 10 gallons in the feed tank on the final day, when I stop firing, and then let the pan level boil down to about an inch, give or take. Draw it off once it had cooled down, then finish it on a turkey fryer.

Is this a reasonable plan or a dangerous one?

Thanks

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That is a very reasonable plan, just keep 5 gallons of water on hand just in case. 1" depth in your 2x4 pan is about 5 gallons which should be pretty sweet so it shouldn't take too long to finish that off on your turkey fryer.

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

My pan has 2” of sap depth in it and when I stop adding wood to the firebox, I need 15 gallons of sap in the head tank to feed the pan while it cools down and it uses almost every drop of the 15 gallons before it stops steaming. My plan was to only have 10 gallons in the feed tank on the final day, when I stop firing, and then let the pan level boil down to about an inch, give or take. Draw it off once it had cooled down, then finish it on a turkey fryer.

Is this a reasonable plan or a dangerous one?

Thanks

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Originally Posted by bigschuss

When your season comes to an end Gary you're going to have a lot of syrup in your pan. If you're running a 2" sap depth that's about 10 gallons of sap in a 2x4, and of that 3 or 3.5 will be syrup, if you've been drawing off regularly and have the pan nice and sweet. What I do is SLOWLY and CAREFULLY take the level down to 1"...or about 5 gallons (with 3 gallons of that being syrup). I've gone as low as 3/4" of an inch but don't recommend it. Then when you empty the pan of that 5 gallons you'll have a lot less finishing to do compared to draining it at 2" and 10 gallons.

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As I mentioned a month ago or so...a good plan. Assuming your pan is sweet, which I am not sure if it is, of that 5 gallons about 3 should be syrup.

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Originally Posted by bigschuss

As I mentioned a month ago or so...a good plan. Assuming your pan is sweet, which I am not sure if it is, of that 5 gallons about 3 should be syrup.

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Lol, that is where I got my plan from, just wanted to make sure my volumes of sap were correct. I do get a gradient in my pan which is obvious by the colours and I did get an early draw off last time, but I likely for whatever reason have not maintained a sweet pan. Perhaps that is to come.

I have to admit if I just kept getting a drawoff at the end of a long boil, sort of batch boiling, I am fine with that, as I immediately take that and finish it while it is still hot, then filter it, then bottle it while it is still hot. Very little reheating. I have been making 8.5 to 10.5 L each time of syrup, which fits into my capacity perfectly (finish pot size). Yesterday with it coming off mid boil, I had to reheat it, which takes a little while.

Long range forecast has already changed, so I will do that plan whenever the time comes.

I am well ahead of last year’s pace, but I need the season to extend into mid April to meet some long range goals. Last year I made 109 L with 109 taps, although I was assisted with 110 L of sap given to me. This year I would like to make 140 L with no added sap from a friend. I have 170+ taps, but some are on pails and some are on very short lines and some were tapped at Christmas, some mid February, some March 1, so I have no expectation of a litre a tap, but 140 sounds like a nice number and a good goal. I also benefit from high sugar content in my sap.

I am still really pleased with the vacuum filter. Very fast, very easy, does a great job, and very little syrup lost to the filters. I have mentioned this before, but I have a five gallon pail filled with water, and I just toss th filters from the vacuum filter into the pail and either later that day or the next day, I go to clean them, and the job is mostly done with the water diluting the nitre and the final cleanup of the filters is simply quickly finishing them.

Do you have a thermometer by your draw off valve, when you your syrup gets to proper density you slowly open the valve a little and watch the thermometer and once the temp starts dropping you close the valve. Thats how you maintain a sweet pan, only drawings off finished or near finished syrup.

I have had 2 boils on my Smoky Lake Dauntless Evaporator so far this year and at about the 130 gallon mark is when I hit the proper density to draw off some syrup, so I just cracked the valve and watch my thermometer till is was falling and closed the valve and them a little while later after adding more sap I had one more draw before I shut down for the day, so in those 2 boils I had about 150 gallons of sap, my sap is usually in the 2.5 to 3.5 percent range and I ended up only drawing off 1 gallon of finished syrup. So now next time I boil if I add another say 80 gallons of sap to the pan I should expect to get about 2 gallons of syrup drawn off from it during that boil. Thats how you maintain the sweet pan. My divided pan is 20"X48".

Bryan

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Originally Posted by Bgreisch

Do you have a thermometer by your draw off valve, when you your syrup gets to proper density you slowly open the valve a little and watch the thermometer and once the temp starts dropping you close the valve. Thats how you maintain a sweet pan, only drawings off finished or near finished syrup.

I have had 2 boils on my Smoky Lake Dauntless Evaporator so far this year and at about the 130 gallon mark is when I hit the proper density to draw off some syrup, so I just cracked the valve and watch my thermometer till is was falling and closed the valve and them a little while later after adding more sap I had one more draw before I shut down for the day, so in those 2 boils I had about 150 gallons of sap, my sap is usually in the 2.5 to 3.5 percent range and I ended up only drawing off 1 gallon of finished syrup. So now next time I boil if I add another say 80 gallons of sap to the pan I should expect to get about 2 gallons of syrup drawn off from it during that boil. Thats how you maintain the sweet pan. My divided pan is 20"X48".

Bryan

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I do have a thermometer and I do watch for the temperature to change. The one big difference in what we do, is I open my valve wide open as per the advice of my pan maker and you crack yours open. I wonder if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the advice.

I was fortunate today to finally watch my neighbour’s boil their sap. Their family has been doing it for generations. Their large cast iron finishing pot has been used for generations. They have a 5x2 flat pan, also around for a long time, that sits low to ground on a metal frame with tin sides. It has a couple of pieces of tin for a door, that are just leaning against the fire box opening. They add wood whenever they feel the boil gets down. They add sap, by going out to a drum holding the sap, dip in their metal pail, then dump the sap into the pan.It is not a brisk boil and is not for the whole pan, but the pan steams and they do reduce the syrup. They use far, far, far less wood than me. It is a very low event day. They only tap for a week to ten days, just enough to make 25-30 L of syrup and then they pull their taps.

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I can see why they chuckle at me, when my timer goes off every ten minutes and I stuff full the burning inferno evaporator of mine. I do boil at a much faster rate than they do, but their boil rate is just perfect for them and they have three families and sometimes more that help them and I am very envious of that. I told them what they have and what they do, is really what making maple syrup is all about.

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

I do have a thermometer and I do watch for the temperature to change. The one big difference in what we do, is I open my valve wide open as per the advice of my pan maker and you crack yours open. I wonder if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the advice.

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I asked you about that a page or two ago, and if you replied I never saw it. This is what I suspected. If you are just opening it wide and dumping all the sweet, this is why you don't maintain a gradient. If this is what you prefer, that's fine, but most folks would rather keep a good gradient in their pan and have smaller/more continuous draws.

GO

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Originally Posted by berkshires

I asked you about that a page or two ago, and if you replied I never saw it. This is what I suspected. If you are just opening it wide and dumping all the sweet, this is why you don't maintain a gradient. If this is what you prefer, that's fine, but most folks would rather keep a good gradient in their pan and have smaller/more continuous draws.

GO

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So when it gets to the right temperature and density, I should let it trickle out until the temperature drops.

I know there are variables, how long on average should wait until the next trickle drawoff?

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

So when it gets to the right temperature and density, I should let it trickle out until the temperature drops.

I know there are variables, how long on average should wait until the next trickle drawoff?

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I would experiment with more draw offs of a lesser volume. Typically when I draw off I remove maybe a half gallon to a gallon at a time. So instead of one big 3 gallon draw off, try 4 or 5 smaller ones over the course of your day. I think also there is a little lag if you're watching the thermometer. When drawing off you're also flooding the pan with fresh sap and there is some lag in the response of the thermometer to that fresh sap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

Lol, that is where I got my plan from, just wanted to make sure my volumes of sap were correct. I do get a gradient in my pan which is obvious by the colours and I did get an early draw off last time, but I likely for whatever reason have not maintained a sweet pan. Perhaps that is to come.

I have to admit if I just kept getting a drawoff at the end of a long boil, sort of batch boiling, I am fine with that, as I immediately take that and finish it while it is still hot, then filter it, then bottle it while it is still hot. Very little reheating. I have been making 8.5 to 10.5 L each time of syrup, which fits into my capacity perfectly (finish pot size). Yesterday with it coming off mid boil, I had to reheat it, which takes a little while.

Long range forecast has already changed, so I will do that plan whenever the time comes.

I am well ahead of last year’s pace, but I need the season to extend into mid April to meet some long range goals. Last year I made 109 L with 109 taps, although I was assisted with 110 L of sap given to me. This year I would like to make 140 L with no added sap from a friend. I have 170+ taps, but some are on pails and some are on very short lines and some were tapped at Christmas, some mid February, some March 1, so I have no expectation of a litre a tap, but 140 sounds like a nice number and a good goal. I also benefit from high sugar content in my sap.

I am still really pleased with the vacuum filter. Very fast, very easy, does a great job, and very little syrup lost to the filters. I have mentioned this before, but I have a five gallon pail filled with water, and I just toss th filters from the vacuum filter into the pail and either later that day or the next day, I go to clean them, and the job is mostly done with the water diluting the nitre and the final cleanup of the filters is simply quickly finishing them.

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Yes, Gary...as long as you're having fun and making syrup that's all that matters. Batch boiling is fine. You're retired (I think?) so I assume you're not constrained by time too much.

During that last boil just take your time and go VERY slowly as you bring down the level in your pan. I will pay attention to the pan and the fire and add small kindling as needed to keep the evaporation process going gently. I have a shovel ready in case I need to remove the hot coals and wood from the firebox and kill the fire immediately. The lower you bring it down the more time you'll save later on the turkey fryer. There have been a few years that I drop the level so much that when I drained the pan I was basically at syrup within 5 minutes of finishing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

So when it gets to the right temperature and density, I should let it trickle out until the temperature drops.

I know there are variables, how long on average should wait until the next trickle drawoff?

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On my evaporator it's pretty obvious. Whenever the temp gets back up to syrup (or close and rising) it's time to open the valve again. Sometimes it's just a few minutes after the last draw, sometimes it's an hour. You just go by temperature at the draw-off.

GO

When I boil again on Saturday, I am going to try and use less wood. Right now, every 10 minutes I stuff the firebox full. The fire is very hot and I get a great boil, but I wonder how much heat is racing out the stack. The old timers I watched yesterday, use much, much, much less wood than I do, but their boil rate is also much less. There might be a happy medium between us.

Not sure if the best solution is not to stack it so full or have a longer fire interval time, or perhaps a bit of both.

A two day break from boiling, back at her tomorrow. Took the break because of weather, but also personal reasons, not the least of which I get to watch my Granddaughter’s skating show. She is also in gymnastics and on her final day of this session, she climbed a very tall rope and rang the bell, primarily using arm strength, it was impressive.

I think I might burn through the wood I had surrounding the evaporator after the next four to five boils. They also acted like walls, so today I am buying some tarps to take their place if need be. I may have to tap into the wood supply I split last year for next season’s production.

I have collected 76% of the sap volume I collected last year and have made 20 L more than last year at this time, but I made a fair amount of syrup last year during the first week of April.

I have made 6 batches so far. The picture shows bottles from the first five batches.

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Originally Posted by bigschuss

Yes, Gary...as long as you're having fun and making syrup that's all that matters. Batch boiling is fine. You're retired (I think?) so I assume you're not constrained by time too much.

During that last boil just take your time and go VERY slowly as you bring down the level in your pan. I will pay attention to the pan and the fire and add small kindling as needed to keep the evaporation process going gently. I have a shovel ready in case I need to remove the hot coals and wood from the firebox and kill the fire immediately. The lower you bring it down the more time you'll save later on the turkey fryer. There have been a few years that I drop the level so much that when I drained the pan I was basically at syrup within 5 minutes of finishing.

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Thanks for all of the advice. I am retired. Time is something I have available this time of year, ice fishing is done, still not time yet for wood splitting as there is still lots of snow around covering the wood piles and the splitter.

Once maple syrup season is done, then it is moving split wood from more open areas to covered sheds for use this coming winter, then splitting already stockpiled logs to refill the more open area storage locations for winter 24/25, and the goal is to get that all done before the black flies show up, then it is time for fishing and projects.

I have been retired for 12.5 years now and have not been bored for one second. Living in a rural area, there are always chores to do, or fishing!

You are very consistent on your color/grade of syrup.

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Originally Posted by Pdiamond

You are very consistent on your color/grade of syrup.

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And I have no idea how I do it, lol, other than being consistent in what I do, right or wrong.

While I was boiling today, my bride thought she would try and make some maple sugar. She followed all of the instructions and made some good looking maple sugar. It is drying on some baking sheets right now.

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The boil went well, cut short by the weather, as snow was blowing into the shelter with strong cold north winds, but I did have one draw early in and made 7 L of syrup.

Next year I will add a metal door to my front metal facade. The evaporator is so hot this year, compared to last year, my wooden handles on my concrete doors are burning, and today even briefly caught on fire. Last year they lasted the whole season.

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