A new evaporator will take some getting used to. Just make sure you don't run out of sap with a raging fire going and you will be okay. Also, have some water on hand in case of emergencies.
Ditto on the previous comment about stacking bricks up under the flues to within 1 inch. You want to force the heat through the flues to make it boil properly. You could maybe make a ramp out of the bricks (just dry-stack them) to help force the fire up into the flues and cover up some of the back of the grate area. Personally, I would use 16" wood for that size evaporator. Using onger wood and a longer firebox just seems to waste wood as lots of flame goes up the stack.
I would boil until I was almost out of sap and then stop firing and leave the contents of the pan until I had more fresh sap to boil (this is called sweetening the pans). As long as the raw sap has been brought to a boil, it will kill any bacteria in the sap and it will keep for several days (longer if cold temps).
If you are itching for some fresh syrup, you could combine some pans and just run water in one (or put in the metal plate) and boil some more until you have reduced the volume to something manageable to bring inside and finish on the kitchen stove.
In general, you should never finish syrup in a flue pan, so I would keep the more dense syrup in the flat pan and eliminate one of the flat pans.
For the record, I run with about 1" of sap over the tops of the flues and run about 2" deep in a flat pan.
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