My plan 2022/23

I was standing over my evaporator trying to come up with a solution for several minutes.

I said to myself, Gary you worked for the Railway in the Engineering department and you know steel expands with the heat. On the railway we solved the problem by making sure the rail was laid at a certain temperature and we would anchor the rail. None of those solutions applied here, but the thought of the iron angle iron was warping because of expansion and it had to go somewhere, gave me an idea.

I am thinking why don’t I cut the four foot length into three or four sections and allow for an expansion gap between them. My brain says that should work. A 12 or 18” section of angle iron will not warp and lift the pan, and it will still hold the firebricks in:

I have a neighbour coming over who works with metal and he may have other ideas, or he may give me feedback on my proposed solution.

Gary you can build a small fire to cure to refractory cement. Just enough to get it warm. By the way Gary, today I got 50 taps in on bags. Tomorrow i will put the new spiles on the drops I have on a short run out front - 8 taps.

The second boil test was a total success for the evaporator, although I get a strike against me.

The fix of curtting then metal frame allowing for 1/2 expansion joints worked perfectly. The leaks in the collar were all fixed.

It takes about 30 minutes to come to a boil, but today all four channels were boiling briskly, the full length of the channels except for the very start where the water comes in from the float box.

My strike was I knocked over my concrete door and it fell just the right way and broke. There was still a big enough piece to do the test. No biggie other than finding a patio stone this time of year locally.

I am all ready for sap now, but despite another perfect day for a lot of flow, it is still just dripping steadily. The Christmas lines are still perfirming the same or better than the other lines. Once again I typed this without my glasses so sorry for any glaring errors. I also have video, but I will send that tomorrow, when my data limit starts new again.

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That's looking great. You're all set now just have to wait for the sap to flow.
I walked the woods Sunday and flagged 2 more trees to tap and 6 other on another neighbor's property. Just have to get the ok to tap those.

I was really pleased with today’s boil. In making all of the changes I was hoping to achieve a few things.

Make a sugar shelter that would protect the evaporator, but allow the steam to escape.
Make changes to the evaporator to reduce or eliminate the smoke problem.
Make changes to the evaporator to improve how it boils.
Make changes to improve and streamline the boiling process.

The steam had no problem escaping the shelter. The current structure has a much taller peaked roof.

Both the first test and this test, the evaporator was 99.5% smoke free it was a game changer from last year where I had to wear a mask and you could not see me when I entered the shelter. I credit that with having one pan sitting on ceramic blanket strips.

Last year I had trouble getting the fourth steam pan to boil and the fifth pan never boiled unless I’m put a lid on it, and this year the boil goes right from the front to the back of the pan. I credit that to the base stack. Of note, I am getting that boil with the liquid depth at 2.75”. That is what the pan builder set for me, being a rookie with a divided pan. Come boil time I will reduce that to 2.25” for the first draw off then reduce it to 2” for the next few drawoffs and after that we will see if I get braver.

The feed tank with the divided pan is pretty slick. A lot easier than my process last year. Lots of things to learn, but that is the fun of it.

I resolved all of the problems from the last boil except better access to the firebox. I did not want to cut the piece I needed to, because if it broke, I might be in a jam replacing it. I want to make the new piece before doing anything with the old piece.

I have at least two weeks before I will be boiling sap. I am trying to think of how to redo the entire front of the evaporator.

The sap is still running at 8:30 pm. I have 18 gallons collected and will have over 20 gallons tomorrow morning. I may use a turkey fryer and my induction stove to boil it tomorrow. I have a lot to learn what makes sap flow. I have had a number of perfect weather days and some sap has flowed but the amount of sap that has flowed per tap is almost embarrassing. The only thing I can think of is it is still winter here and the trees need to thaw more.

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It is 12:20 am or 0020 hrs, the sap is still running as the temperature will not go below freezing tonight. I understand the process of freezing temperatures recharging the tree, I am just curious how long the sap will flow after a recharge. It was -8°C /17.6F this morning and the sap started to run around noon. It is still running over 12 hours later, I wonder if it will still be running when I wake up?


Edit: 5 AM, the lines are still running, although slowed. The Christmas line is easily out performing the others.

I drained the barrels around 6 pm last evening, but despite running since then, there is not a lot of volume. Perhaps the reason for the low volumes the last number of days is because not all of the trees have started to flow yet, so despite having lots of taps, only a small number of them are producing at the moment.

It’s funny though, and I talked about that different setups had different advantages, last year’s steam pan setup, I would be boiling today because 20 / 30 gallons of sap would be a nice boil and I would not worry about the cold front coming in a couple of days. With the divided pan, I am not going to boil for an hour, then shut down, then have the sap sit in the pan for 8+ days of freezing weather. This is not a complaint about the divided pan, just an observation, that other methods have their advantages.

Now back to bed!

Edit: 9 am - 5.5 gallons collected from 53 taps going into barrel one and 4.25 gallons collected from 28 taps in barrel 2. The lines are still dripping.

What temperature is it getting up to during the day where you are?

GO

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Originally Posted by berkshires

What temperature is it getting up to during the day where you are?

GO

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It has been getting to between 41° and 46° F and dropping to 20° F. Perfect temperatures. Last night it did not drop below zero, but the sap is still flowing right now at 12:30 pm, maybe flowing the best it has been, and that is from yesterday’s morning freeze, so it has been flowing for 24 hours straight with no signs of slowing. It is 42° right now.

One local thought that come March and the real melt, there is more ground water for the roots to absorb to increase the flows.

It will turn to below freezing temperatures tonight, stay freezing for a couple days, warm up a couple days, then be well below freezing between Feb 21 and into March.

On the bonus side I collected 26 gallons at Christmas and another 35 gallons and counting since. Last year I did not collect any until mid March. So I am currently 60+ gallons and counting ahead of last year.

The recent sap had 2% sugar.

With the 2 weeks plus before I likely start boiling, I thought I take advantage of the time to improve the front facade of my evaporator and leave the door open (pun intended) for a future metal door.

As per the picture, I would like to change out concrete pieces with 1/2” thick steel. Really only the top part that goes across the fire box would see any real heat. New pieces as per the red squares in the picture and they would be welded together I would just use concrete blocks to keep the metal tight to the cinder blocks.

Do you see any concerns with doing that?

Eventually down the road I would add a metal door, but likely would still go with the concrete door for this year.

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

It has been getting to between 41° and 46° F and dropping to 20° F. Perfect temperatures.

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Yes that is perfect temps. That said, there are other things that can decrease the flow from good to bad or even zero in my experience:
- Nearly all the time in a 24 hour period below freezing, with just a short spike above. Even if it gets all the way to the 40s, it's just not enough time to thaw much of a big block of very frozen wood.
- Heavy snow/ice around the base of the tree. My understanding is that this creates a "collar" of frozen sap inside the base of the trunk that limits flow up and down the tree.
- Intense cold. When it drops down to low teens or single digits, it can take days of warmth before any significant melting goes on in the tree.
- Colder areas, or areas with less sun. I have a northeast-facing area of my sugar-bush that runs better later in the season, and doesn't run as well when it's cold.

By the way, if the two runs are really identical, and one is running way better than the other, I would look for leaks or blockages in the one that's not running well, especially since the one running more poorly is new.

Cheers,

GO