Ulster County Catskills

[Ghs57]

"I'm shocked! Shocked to find that fermentation is going on in here." he said as he looked into the evaporator head tank.

Well, something is going on in there, and it doesn't smell good. Foamy layer on top. My last boil was Tuesday. In the mean time, we have not had a freeze or above average temperatures. There has been just a tickle of new sap, which test boiled very well. But I'm not ready to face the end of the season. Perhaps I should be.

[wnybassman]

For most of this season I have removed my head tank after every boil to clean it. Fortunately it is just a 40 gallon plastic drum and comes down very easy. It is not a 100% drain, so about a quart or so is left after I boil. Gets funky after several boils, and now boiling concentrate I can't even let it go overnight.

[Ghs57]

For most of this season I have removed my head tank after every boil to clean it. Fortunately it is just a 40 gallon plastic drum and comes down very easy. It is not a 100% drain, so about a quart or so is left after I boil. Gets funky after several boils, and now boiling concentrate I can't even let it go overnight.

That's a very good point. This is a 55 gal plastic drum, and there is always something left in the tank. I usually shut down with about 20 gallons left, and it never runs dry during the cool down, which takes a few hours. I ran it dry one time during cool down, and that was nerve racking, but not disastrous. Draining back the tank and frequent cleaning is a good practice. Normally, the sap is only in there for an hour or so when everything is running smoothly, and the remainder a day or two when boiling regularly.

If there is no more usable sap here, this spoiled sap will go into the dirty pan for a good long soak. I still need another 25-50 gallons to do that. There are a few cold nights coming up so maybe there will be a bit more. But it's looking more and more like I'm done for the season.

[wnybassman]

That's a very good point. This is a 55 gal plastic drum, and there is always something left in the tank. I usually shut down with about 20 gallons left, and it never runs dry during the cool down, which takes a few hours. I ran it dry one time during cool down, and that was nerve racking, but not disastrous. Draining back the tank and frequent cleaning is a good practice. Normally, the sap is only in there for an hour or so when everything is running smoothly, and the remainder a day or two when boiling regularly.

If there is no more usable sap here, this spoiled sap will go into the dirty pan for a good long soak. I still need another 25-50 gallons to do that. There are a few cold nights coming up so maybe there will be a bit more. But it's looking more and more like I'm done for the season.

I run mine dry every time I boil. When I get down to 6 or 7 gallons left, I switch over to burning nothing but smaller pine. When I get down to 3 to 4 gallons left, I flood the flue pan with the remainder and drain the float box and put that into the flue pan. I then stoke the fire (yes with NOTHING left in the head tank! lol) with several pieces of finely split pine. This quickly gets the flue pan boiling to sterilize, but quickly runs out of fuel. Within five minutes of that final boil the fire is out, only a few coals remain and the boil simmers out to nothing. I never loose any more than about a 1/4" of depth in the pans after that. During the time of that final sterilization boil is when I drop the head tank down and rinse it out.

[Ghs57]

I run mine dry every time I boil. When I get down to 6 or 7 gallons left, I switch over to burning nothing but smaller pine. When I get down to 3 to 4 gallons left, I flood the flue pan with the remainder and drain the float box and put that into the flue pan. I then stoke the fire (yes with NOTHING left in the head tank! lol) with several pieces of finely split pine. This quickly gets the flue pan boiling to sterilize, but quickly runs out of fuel. Within five minutes of that final boil the fire is out, only a few coals remain and the boil simmers out to nothing. I never loose any more than about a 1/4" of depth in the pans after that. During the time of that final sterilization boil is when I drop the head tank down and rinse it out.

This is good information to have. I guess I will need to change up my routine when I add an RO next year. My rig has so much residual heat when I shut down, that it will take some practice to figure out the cut off point. That was even with burning punky poplar/pine/sycamore this year. Almost no dense hardwood went in. With all that glowing firebrick, including the 70lbs cast grate, it takes some time to dissipate. I could leave the AUF/AOF on longer.

[Ghs57]

Well, my trees have told me enough is enough already. Even with a freeze last night, there is nothing doing today. The 75 gals in the tank are starting to look like skim milk. I really wanted to run a bit longer.

I began draining the pan, and I'm 2/3 through bottling this years syrup. I'm pretty sure I don't have enough glassware, so I'll be buying more mason jars.

There will be a final tally in a few days.

[Ghs57]

Totals for the 2018 season:

Maximum number of taps was 102, but not for the entire season.
Gal of sap collected: 2,079 (less about 125 for spoiled sap not processed)
Gals of syrup produced: 35.25 bottled - not counting 3 gallon loss to spillage and the **** filters.
Avg Sugar content: 1.65 - Lower than prior years
Tapped in: 2/20
Tapped out: 3/31
Length of season: 40 days

Syrup mostly dark with a little very dark at the beginning.

This is my highest production total for a season, despite the lower tap count.

Now, it's time to expand the shack, install a concrete floor, install a proper electrical sub-panel and a sink with running water (during the season anyway). Equipment for next year: diy RO, rebuild evaporator firebox.

I forgot to add: Expand tap count to 200.

[Ghs57]

Staring up this weekend. Not ready, as usual, but will push on nevertheless.

[RUSTYBUCKET]

Boiled twice so far but everything is frozen solid now. Looking forward to the weekend.

Good luck to all.

Rusty

[Ghs57]

Went to pump tanks yesterday, and everything was still frozen solid here too. I have not boiled anything yet, but have collected two drums of near solid ice. I've not seen this before. But I did repair many breaks in the lines where tubing pulled off the fittings. I have about 90 taps set so far, and about 50 to go.