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Pdiamond, good to hear from you. I was wondering what you were up to since you hadn't said much during the season.
We were able to get between 30-40 gph on the raised flue set. The average was 30-36 gph but there were some times we got it to 40 gph. Stack temp ran about 500-600*F. A few times when the stack temp got to 600*F, Elle would do a small firing about every five minutes, thus keeping the stack temp at a constant 600*F or raise it. That got our boil rate to 40 gph for a bit. Our stack is twice the length of the evaporator but we are thinking we may experiment for next season and add another section of stack to increase the boil rate. Overall, we are pleased with our rig. It's the second year running it but first year we ran the rig to the point of sap in front pan, water in back pan (last year our stuff went ropey). We RO as we boil so our 80gph single post from the RO Bucket pairs very nicely with our pan set.
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Daniel, I ended up not doing any tapping this year. I got an infection where a guy shouldn't get an infection and man did that hurt. Couldn't hardly walk. I am just planning for next year now and would like to expand my operation out to about 200 taps. That is why I mentioned getting an RO.
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We were still boiling in The Thumb yesterday. Ended up pulling some of my taps, but left a small line still operational because the sugar trees hadn't popped. Spring Peepers were going wild.
Our sap was a little cloudy, but it didn't smell and tasted fine. When we went to boil it however, the whole sugarhouse smelled like a bakery. It had me worried, but the boiling sap wasn't ropey or stringy. As we go close to finishing the bakery smell went away and everything was fine. Probably once of our best batches of syrup. there was a little sap still flowing today from the lines and here's hoping the two nights of freezing temps this week keep it going a little longer.
This was our best year since we started a couple of years ago. Adding tubing on 3/16 mainlines and 5/16 drops was a game changer for us. If our silvers hadn't of popped so quickly, it would have been wild. I guess we nw know what our ceiling is for syrup production. Might have to upgrade next year. Not a bad thing.
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Anybody hear how those producers in the Northern Lower or UP are fairing? It looks like a pretty nasty ice storm which went through their area.
