1st post, 1st attempt evaporating

[fruitguy]

Live in Western NY and my family has talked about tapping the trees in our yard for a few years. So this year we decided to try it. Tapped 17 trees and as of today (6 days in) we have collected about 115 gallons of sap. Attached are the pictures of my attempt of at an evaporator over a 200,000 BTU turkey fryer.

With the gas valve about a 1/4 to 1/2 open I am evaporating little over 3 gallons per hour. The roasting pan I am using holds about 5.5 to 5.75 gallons. Is it okay to go out every hour and add 3 gallons or should I be adding it more often. Also I am attempting to warm the 3 gallons up, but it is still quite cold, takes about 9 minutes to come back to a boil.

Also my rolling boil is at 209.9f

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[wnybassman]

First year and already have a roof over your head. I am impressed! Took me 15 years to put a roof over my head. lol

Any way you can keep it at a rolling boil you are better off. If you can find a container that could drizzle it in at roughly the same rate you are evaporating and maintain boil would be very beneficial.

[fruitguy]

Beautiful building was on clearance today for $30.
Thanks for the suggestion. Have a couple engineers around, will see if they can help me come up with some ideas.

[maple flats]

Try to find a way to add sap continuously, and reduce the depth, at 1.5-2" depth it will boil away faster, but without a constant feed you'd soon run into trouble. Have fun, the addiction has taken hold, there is no escape.
The main issue you will find using propane to boil is that it costs a lot, but it does give you good control. Nice set-up for your first year.

[Run Forest Run!]

Nice set-up.

Making a gallon of syrup will take about 40lb of propane. That cost $20 in fuel/gallon of syrup for me last year and $26 this year. I love the convenience and ease of boiling and it's worth it for me. I have a wood burning set-up as well but only use it when I've got perfect weather and a full day of no other tasks.

Have fun with your first season. You'll love it!

[Sugarmaker]

Keep adding and boiling! "If there is fire under it have sap in it!"
Regards,
Chris

[fruitguy]

Thanks. My thought is to head to the hardware store in the morning and pick up a spigot that I can control the flow. Drill a hole in a 6” bus pan and put it on top or over my boil pan and try to meter the flow to 3 gallons an hour. Hopefully heat up the sap as well and maybe help evaporate a little more.

Thanks for all the suggestions

[fruitguy]

Nice set-up.

Making a gallon of syrup will take about 40lb of propane. That cost $20 in fuel/gallon of syrup for me last year and $26 this year. I love the convenience and ease of boiling and it's worth it for me. I have a wood burning set-up as well but only use it when I've got perfect weather and a full day of no other tasks.

Have fun with your first season. You'll love it!

Do you put your pans directly on the burner or keep them slight elevated above?

[Run Forest Run!]

Do you put your pans directly on the burner or keep them slight elevated above?

I have two single propane burners and a Denali three burner camp stove. With the single propane burners my pans sit on the frame and the flame burns a few inches high, right up to the pans. On the camp stove the pan sits on the grill, and again the pan is about an inch or two above the source of the flame, but the flame comes right up to the pans on it too.

I put a disposable aluminum tray above my main sap pan and put a couple of very tiny pin prick sized holes in it. The sap trickles out perfectly and is warmed by the steam coming up from the pan below it. You could probably do the same thing if you had one of the large disposable turkey roasting pans.

[jrm]

I put a disposable aluminum tray above my main sap pan and put a couple of very tiny pin prick sized holes in it. The sap trickles out perfectly and is warmed by the steam coming up from the pan below it.

Love that idea. I'm going to try that n my next boil.

Fruitguy... like your pan. Better surface area than the full size steam pans. You've got the bug. Enjoy.