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Friday, March 8, 2013

First Maple Syrup of 2013

Well, almost done.  The new evaporator did work well.  It boiled off much more quickly with less wood than I anticipated.  I actually almost lost the batch as it was going to burn off, but I arrived in time and only a little was burned.

Door is wonky - it is not really needed but it is nice to close it when you leave the woods. Plastic extension melted into the metal so now I need to burn it out or dig it out and get a metal extension. Lastly, how do I pull off the almost finished sap without burning the pan?  It did not work out too well today, but I will improve it.

I am worried about the coons going into the pan overnight.  I think I am going to bring out an OSB lid when it cools.

I cut down what I think was a basswood near the site.  It came down perfectly. I chopped it up and brought some home with me.

Right now I am boiling off some of the nearly finished stuff at the house on the propane cajun cooker in the large aluminium pot.   200 litres was done from 9AM to 2PM - 6 hours. Finishing started at 3:00 on the propane with a full 10lb canister.  I think I am going to make a rocket heater tomorrow out of concrete blocks. It will save on fuel costs as I can use sprice, pine or branches to feed the rocket heater.

Update: produced 4.5L.  Screwed around a lot with filtering.  Very frustrating. Need to get a better filter.

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