I find I have a much more consistent boil with hardwood. I almost always start with pine, simply because almost all of my pines are dead due to the pine bore. But, I will burn anything that does not move. Ash has been working very well, and there is so much of it available. I have a deep ash pit in the evaporator. That, and since I added forced air, I do not have an excessive buildup of coals. I also have a good stockpile of wood this year. Last year it was: make syrup, or heat the house.
Hard to believe, but the sap ran decent today. I wasn't expecting a drop in the buckets. I'm gong to try and boil it all down tonight. Not sure how long the sap will last in this balmy weather we have...
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
-Henry David Thoreau
Got everything together and boiled off about 100 gals tonight. Still fine tuning the steam hood. Had to bypass the preheater for today because I did not have all the pieces to plumb it in, and my sap reserve was going stale. These temps play havoc with the sap, even the fresh stuff. Best to boil it off the same day. I will be boiling most of the weekend to catch up with the flow.
I thought the fan for the AUF/AOF was what was making all the noise in the shack, so I moved it outside under the new shed roof. It makes noise, but probably not more more than the pan at full boil. While I think it did make a difference, there still is plenty of noise. Piping in the air for further away required resetting the AUF/AOF dampers. Had to open them up some more. Now the blast furnace is back on the job.
Can't wait for colder weather!
Yea I'm pretty lucky that the school supports this. The kids and Thea gets seem to love it it. It's helpful to have the extra days to boil off on a good run!
Boiled off 130 gallons, trying to keep it cold was tricky, had to scrape up remaining snow and dump on top of my tank. All said and done I started at 7 am and just finished at eight. Have about Twenty gallons to finish tomorrow, and thankful none of it spoiled! This week looks somewhat promising for another flow.
My first two draw offs have been dark amber. Usually, my first few are amber, and sometimes golden. Not this year. Didn't want to go through the filter either.
After my second boil, I discovered my grates had warped and bent in the heat of the evap combustion chamber. They were made out of old shelving channels, not the cheap stuff, but some of industrial strength. Really looks like they rusted away more than anything else. I should have taken them out and cleaned them during the off season. They lasted two and a half seasons though. Made some new ones out of an old road sign post.
The evaporator is running pretty well. There are a few issues with the steam hood, but manageable for now. I want to plumb in the preheater today. I'd like to see how well it works, and I have all the parts I need now. If I stay on the fire, with good hardwood, I'm getting 25gph+.
Looks like another warm day today. The weather is not working with us this year. The snow is nearly all gone. I don't have all my taps in yet, and unless conditions look better, not sure I am going to do the rest. We'll see.
I haven't made an ounce of light syrup this year. Started out medium last week and now it's borderline dark. Delicious though. Yesterday I dumped a bunch of buckets that had some questionable stuff inside from our recent heat wave. Today however, I got 360 gallons, with a majority of that coming from the vacuum. Now all I have to do is boil it all down tonight and be up for work at 4:30AM
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
-Henry David Thoreau
Today's syrup looked like molasses. Tastes very good though. Boils going very well, and I'm keeping up with the flow.
But my vacuum broke down, so hardly anything from the 50 trees here. Parts are shipping out today though. I missed out on the run of the past two days on these trees because I didn't discover the problem until this morning. Luckily, the 3/16 on Ohayo is producing well.
Matt, do you run an RO? It would take me quite some time to boil off 360 gals of raw sap. I haven't dumped any sap yet, other than the one bucket I have on the tree by the house. It went moldy on the warm day last week.
Looks like one more warm day before some cold air moves in. Maybe we will have a few good runs with this seasonable weather.
No RO yet. After this season I'm going to put a much needed addition on the sap house. I like the smaller ROs that leader offers now. Once I have some more room, I think that's the next logical step for my operation. I don't mind spending long hours in the sap house, but it's tough to juggle that along with work, family time, and anything else life throws at me. I even think that my wife will give me the green light to purchase it! As it is now, I can boil off 40 gallons an hour I think.
Today's run wasn't that great. Again, the vacuum out performed any buckets I have. Here's hoping for cooler weather...
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
-Henry David Thoreau
Sounds like everyone is dealing with the same issues and getting the same result. My first few gallons were light but nothing but dark after that and now what seems like end of season dark B grade stuff. My sap has managed to be ok, little cloudy but not sour. Did end up dumping 20 gallons because of a sour smell. Best of luck to you all, hoping things turn around before I get burnt out from all the hauling and long nights boiling!
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