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Karen use both i would suggest run the six inch with about 2 incheses in it as the main boilingl pan. Use thr 4 incj as a earming pan anf laddel hot sap to the 6 inch . Laddel it over just enough not to loose the boil
Before you know it you will be outta sap.. What you temove from 4 inch for the
6 inch replace with fresh sap
I brought back 130 L yesterday after work, started boiling last night, already had 30 L sitting waiting to be boiled, everything in the forest is over flowing, I have no room to store it or collect it so it is just over flowing. I pulled a few taps yesterday also, just to much right now and I can't keep up lol. One of the taps I pulled and went to get a bucket to empty the sap into and turned around and my oldest son had his mouth right over the hole in the tree....looked like he was trying to bite the tree, I asked him what he was doing (while laughing) and he told me he didn't want the tree pee to go to waste lol.
Trees all have ice in the buckets, thank gawd. Give me a chance to catch up.
So mad at myself. I trusted the hydrotherm more than my own instincts and wayyy overboiled the batch I was working on last night. So the therm is packed away, I'll use it on the syrup once it's a) done going by what looks good to me and b) the syrup is good and cold. And I was up til about 2:30 am trying to get it right. Will tackle re-finishing it later with the help of some sap and distilled. Boiling sap now, gonna run to Rona and get that stovepipe and get that stove going.
Lesley Cloudy in the buckets is a sign of warm weather (darker tasty syrup) and not buddiness. It's the same here. Our rule is if it is clear enough to see the bottom of the pail, it's still good. If it's too cloudy to see the bottom of the pail, or it is off-colour, dump it out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lespetras
Are you tapping sugars or reds? In my area, the reds in the open are budding while the sugars and any reds in the woods are not yet. Picture below is from a red (right) and sugar 20' apart in the open.
I've lost track of how much sap we have collected and boiled in the last few days, although the kids have been diligently recording it on the board. We boiled more than we collected yesterday, but are not caught up yet. We had a bit of a melt down, which dropped our evaporation rate from a nice 20gph to about 12gph for the last few hours. I had to wait until we gave up for the night to install a replacement. If the coals build up too much, the 1/4" angle glows red hot and gets soft, then eventually fails and then the fire doesn't get enough air. I get about a year out of a grate, so I've taken to fabbing up a replacement each time one fails. Syrup yesterday was getting into the 2015 Amber range (2016 dark) and very tasty. It was too late to filter and bottle last night, so it's waiting for another evening.
Some buckets were slightly cloudy yesterday, but normal for this time of year. A few trees have given up for the season now, but most are still producing very well. Now is the time of year when we usually try our very best to keep up with the incoming sap daily, as it tends to spoil quickly in the tank. We've been trying, but it's coming in too fast! We're still getting over 100 gal a day. Today should be another good day, then the forecast looks like there will be a few days relief. Whew!
Really Gelena Thats rookie mistake i made as well when starting to use one
To use on a hot test i found its alot more accutate if its preheated.
It seems to take to long to go from a colder temp to a hot accurate.
Keep trying it till you get the hang of it and trust it
Jeff, I did preheat the therm under hot water, dried it off, then tried. But just tried it this am on cold syrup and though I'm still a little below Brix it's only about 4 hashmarks off now. Will try it again tonight. Keep in mind the big reason I got a so-called *Quebec* hydrotherm is cause it works on cold syrup too. I was way too tired and p.o.'d last night to mess with almost 6l of syrup at 224!!!
Speaking of which, Big_Eddy, can I borrow one of your sons to help with the boiling? You have so many, surely you can spare one? Please? So rare to find kids with a work ethic these days!! None around here :-/
They're kinda busy this week. How about early May? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
On the hydrotherm, float it in your hydro cup (taller than the hydro is long) and then go stoke the fire, collect sap or read a book for 5-10 minutes until the thermometer can equalize. To be legal syrup, you need 1 line of red showing above the syrup, and 5 lines for optimum syrup (66.8 Brix) Until the thermometer catches up you won't get an accurate reading.
For a quick check off the evaporator in boiling syrup, the thermometer column will rise to the same point each time (basically the top of the brix marks) so you can just float the hydro and count the lines showing. In my case we take off with 5 marks showing, and adjust for final density when bottling.
If you have the energy and the wood keep boiling it! Cloudy sap doesn't necessarily mean it is buddy. We've made some nice looking (but strong) syrup out of some very cloudy sap that we could barely get through the RO!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lespetras
Home from work,go out to sugar bush amd everything is full.
6 collectiom sites of 200 liter drums all over flowingon yhe ground.
I pulled all the taps, 1200 liters in a little over 30 hours.
WTF am i gonna do with that much? I still have 25 to 30 liters to finish and bottle !
Im done, this is not fun any more it feels like work ! ! !