So we boiled all night Friday, all day Saturday and fed the fire until about 9:15, then we were down t0 about 50 gallons of sap so we started letting it cool off.
Sometime during the night - or morning, depending on how you look at it, I guess - we had nothing better to do so we added a buzzer activated by the automatic drawoff. If we fell asleep or were outside we would know the syrup was ready and to check the valve. When Michael first plugged it in it was set for around 100 dB...WAY too loud. We cranked it down far enough that it was not too annoying and put it on a timer so it only goes off for about one second.
We lost track of how many gallons of syrup we got, we'll have to figure it out later. All we know is we're about out of quart jugs, and if the weather cooperates later in the week we may need more.
I left around 9:30 PM, Michael and Bob stayed out until about 11, by then everything was pretty much cooled off.
As usual, we'll have to see what the weather does and find out later this week if we can make any more.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
First batch of the "day"
Hopefully the first of many...not too bad for basically starting over with almost-new sap in the front pans, I guess.
The All-Nighter
We knew we were going to have a lot of sap today, but I don't think we would have guessed this much. It's a good thing we got the new tank yesterday.
Michael & Bob cleaned it out, collected twice & cleaned out the front pans to be ready to go after our near-disaster on Thursday.
When I got here just after 9 Michael had the mule stuck in the woods; we were able to get it out without too much trouble & started the fire about 10:15. No biggie, only about 710 gallons to go.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Free Stuff is Awesome When It's Really Free
Wednesday we didn’t have any sap, but the weather looked really good for Thursday so we waited to collect and got 245 gallons in the morning. The temperature was around 50, so the trees were running pretty well when we finished up around noon.
After that we decided to drive to Pittsboro and see what kind of shape the storage tank was in that the neighbors had offered us. We knew it was a large poly tank and that it was “laying out near the woods” but that was about it. We figured they would not have gone to a lot of effort to put it very far away from the shop, so we didn’t take much with us except some straps to hold it down and a tow strap in case we needed to roll it around.
After that we decided to drive to Pittsboro and see what kind of shape the storage tank was in that the neighbors had offered us. We knew it was a large poly tank and that it was “laying out near the woods” but that was about it. We figured they would not have gone to a lot of effort to put it very far away from the shop, so we didn’t take much with us except some straps to hold it down and a tow strap in case we needed to roll it around.
When we got near the shop where the tank was supposed to be it didn’t appear that there were any woods very near by, and Michael remarked that he had been there, but he didn’t remember any woods, either. When we pulled around to the back we could see that the woods were actually a couple of hundred yards away across a cornfield, and that the tank was indeed lying there. As Michael said later, it looked about the size of a roll of toilet paper. From long experience getting “free” stuff for sugaring we know that free stuff usually costs us something in sweat, skinned knuckles or slogging through mud, if not cash. At that point we weren’t too excited about getting the tank across the field, but decided to at least take a look.
As we walked across the field we debated if we could drive on it or not, eventually deciding that it was too soft. Unfortunately the stubble in the field was pretty tall, so that made walking harder, adding to the difficulty level of getting the tank back to the truck. As we got closer we could see that there was no lid, so we weren’t too optimistic about how clean the interior might be, or our prospects of getting it clean enough to use. When I got close to the tank Michael was a bit behind with the boys. I bent down to look inside, and about that time he asked if anything was living inside of it. As a matter of fact I could see a cat inside, hiding behind a milk jug. Fortunately it was alive, or I would have turned around and left right then.
We decided the inside wasn’t really that dirty, and that we could probably get it clean. Fortunately it wasn’t that heavy, and we were able to roll it out of the field without too much trouble. On the way back we talked about what might be the best way to clean it. Since it’s seven feet tall someone would have to get into it to reach everything.
When we got back we boiled for a while, at the same time working on a plug for the tank outlet. There was a threaded port installed in it, but no valve or shutoff so we installed a 2” pipe with a cap, along with cutting a cover out of galvanized metal. Later if we need to add a valve to the outlet we can still use it.
As we walked across the field we debated if we could drive on it or not, eventually deciding that it was too soft. Unfortunately the stubble in the field was pretty tall, so that made walking harder, adding to the difficulty level of getting the tank back to the truck. As we got closer we could see that there was no lid, so we weren’t too optimistic about how clean the interior might be, or our prospects of getting it clean enough to use. When I got close to the tank Michael was a bit behind with the boys. I bent down to look inside, and about that time he asked if anything was living inside of it. As a matter of fact I could see a cat inside, hiding behind a milk jug. Fortunately it was alive, or I would have turned around and left right then.
We decided the inside wasn’t really that dirty, and that we could probably get it clean. Fortunately it wasn’t that heavy, and we were able to roll it out of the field without too much trouble. On the way back we talked about what might be the best way to clean it. Since it’s seven feet tall someone would have to get into it to reach everything.
When we got back we boiled for a while, at the same time working on a plug for the tank outlet. There was a threaded port installed in it, but no valve or shutoff so we installed a 2” pipe with a cap, along with cutting a cover out of galvanized metal. Later if we need to add a valve to the outlet we can still use it.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
More new stuff
Our "new" sink, installed and ready to go. A few leaks, but much nicer to use than our old one.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
New Stuff
This is our newly reinstalled smoke stack. The only really new part is the bright shiny elbow. But, it's back in place to work with the evaporator set up for wood.
And this is our framework for holding our new sap filter. It's a bit hard to see with all the steam, but Michael said to make sure & point out that we didn't NEED to drill that many holes to get it right, that board was a leftover from
another project that we recycled. Instead of using an old prefilter for filtering sap like we have in the past.I picked up a real sap filter at the Indiana Maple Syrup Association meeting December. It should clean up a lot easier, and it will filter a lot more before clogging up. It's hanging down in the tank where you can't see it.
The straps hold the tank to a frame that elevates it to feed the evaporator and the bungee cords hold the rest of it to the tank so it doesn't fall off when we move the hose. That runs to a pump that is connected to our two open storage tanks.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Ups & Downs
This was one of those days that started well, went downhill and ended up pretty good.
For starters Michael had collected 165 gallons of sap on Tuesday, so that was enough to keep us busy for quite a while. It also helped when the front pans started boiling about half an hour after Dad got the fire started. That's a lot longer than it used to take with the gas burner, but less time than it took for our first try with this rig and wood.
Then the downhill part: About an hour or so later we had the first batch come off, but the temperature went way up to 230 degrees and we were afraid we had burned it. At the least it was going to be way beyond syrup, or too dense. After another batch came off the same way we decided to lower the set point temperature of the drawoff from 221.1 to 220 and see if that kept the temperature from going so high. We figured it would be better to have to finish it a little longer than take a chance on burning it or having to thin it while finishing.
So we set the temperature to 220, and it was much better, we were even able to keep it fairly consistent and have batches come off over long periods of time.
Early in the afternoon we went out to collect and after two trips we had 225 gallons. We over-filled the tank and had to leave four full buckets out in the woods while we came back to empty. Most of the bags were around 3/4 full which is much better than having them completely full...they get a little hard to handle without soaking yourself.
After that it was pretty uneventful, we just kept things boiling and ended up with around 7 gallons or so. I had to leave early so Dad stayed and kept boiling; I talked to him around 8:3o and he was just removing the hot coals from the firebox so he could go home. That gave us a total boiling time of around 13 hours.
Fire at the end of the day
For starters Michael had collected 165 gallons of sap on Tuesday, so that was enough to keep us busy for quite a while. It also helped when the front pans started boiling about half an hour after Dad got the fire started. That's a lot longer than it used to take with the gas burner, but less time than it took for our first try with this rig and wood.
Then the downhill part: About an hour or so later we had the first batch come off, but the temperature went way up to 230 degrees and we were afraid we had burned it. At the least it was going to be way beyond syrup, or too dense. After another batch came off the same way we decided to lower the set point temperature of the drawoff from 221.1 to 220 and see if that kept the temperature from going so high. We figured it would be better to have to finish it a little longer than take a chance on burning it or having to thin it while finishing.
So we set the temperature to 220, and it was much better, we were even able to keep it fairly consistent and have batches come off over long periods of time.
Early in the afternoon we went out to collect and after two trips we had 225 gallons. We over-filled the tank and had to leave four full buckets out in the woods while we came back to empty. Most of the bags were around 3/4 full which is much better than having them completely full...they get a little hard to handle without soaking yourself.
After that it was pretty uneventful, we just kept things boiling and ended up with around 7 gallons or so. I had to leave early so Dad stayed and kept boiling; I talked to him around 8:3o and he was just removing the hot coals from the firebox so he could go home. That gave us a total boiling time of around 13 hours.
Fire at the end of the day
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Our FBI Network
We joke all the time about our "FBI" (Friends, Brothers and In-Laws) Network and how handy it is to know different people when we need stuff - especially since we usually need it cheap. This season it has really come in handy, so we need to give credit where it's due.
A big thanks to Pat Keller for getting us connected with his dad at Keller Heating, AC & Sheet Metal in Lebanon - he was able to get us a new 12" elbow for our smoke stack. You can't just run out to Lowe's and buy those.
A while back we got (free) a three-bay stainless sink from a client of mine who was tearing it out. We decided last weekend to put it in so we would have more cleaning space but the neck was broken off of the faucet. We contacted Glenn Brummer at O'Kelly's Restuarant Equipment on Lafayette Road in Indy, (dad of my roommate from Purdue). He got us a new neck, now we just need to do the plumbing.
Here's hoping for lots of sap for Wednesday...
A big thanks to Pat Keller for getting us connected with his dad at Keller Heating, AC & Sheet Metal in Lebanon - he was able to get us a new 12" elbow for our smoke stack. You can't just run out to Lowe's and buy those.
A while back we got (free) a three-bay stainless sink from a client of mine who was tearing it out. We decided last weekend to put it in so we would have more cleaning space but the neck was broken off of the faucet. We contacted Glenn Brummer at O'Kelly's Restuarant Equipment on Lafayette Road in Indy, (dad of my roommate from Purdue). He got us a new neck, now we just need to do the plumbing.
Here's hoping for lots of sap for Wednesday...
Indy Star Article
Hopefully it won't be as bad as this makes it sound:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902160307
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902160307
Monday, February 16, 2009
Finally started
It's Valentine's Day and we just now really got started. But we have plenty of light now.
After all the rain earlier in the week we couldn't get into the woods to collect so between Friday and Saturday we got about 265 gallons. Fortunately it the warm temperatures didn't spoil the sap.
After building a bracket for our new sap filter, getting all the tanks in place and assembling the evaporator we boiled off all but about 70 gallons of the sap. The first boil never yields a lot, so we probably only got about a quart, but it should pick up on Wednesday.
Switching back to wood the temperature is a lot less consistent than with the gas so it's like learning to do it all over again. We also noticed that there is a lot more heat coming off the firebox than with the gas burner. We had stacked some wood against the side all morning, then later in the day the stack almost caught fire; it was hot enough to have embers, but not flaming yet. It's not like the fire department hasn't been out before, but we'd prefer not to have them come again.
The weather looks really good for this week except for rain Wednesday so hopefully we'll get a lot of sap this week.
After all the rain earlier in the week we couldn't get into the woods to collect so between Friday and Saturday we got about 265 gallons. Fortunately it the warm temperatures didn't spoil the sap.
After building a bracket for our new sap filter, getting all the tanks in place and assembling the evaporator we boiled off all but about 70 gallons of the sap. The first boil never yields a lot, so we probably only got about a quart, but it should pick up on Wednesday.
Switching back to wood the temperature is a lot less consistent than with the gas so it's like learning to do it all over again. We also noticed that there is a lot more heat coming off the firebox than with the gas burner. We had stacked some wood against the side all morning, then later in the day the stack almost caught fire; it was hot enough to have embers, but not flaming yet. It's not like the fire department hasn't been out before, but we'd prefer not to have them come again.
The weather looks really good for this week except for rain Wednesday so hopefully we'll get a lot of sap this week.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Not such a good day for Michael...
Tomorrow's forecast includes: Anyone with outdoor interests will be affected by high winds. Yeah, that's us.
Michael describes his experiences today...
Well, that just about matches my day. I'm warming us up a late lunch. If the kitchen stays par for the day, the microwave will explode!
Got the tank and gathering rig in Francis. Then I took John down the west edge of the field to knock down thistles for a more solid path. (In case you're wondering; Francis is a Kawasaki Mule and John is a John Deere tractor) While pushing a small tree that fell from the woods, it popped over the blade and sheared a hydraulic fitting on the up/down cylinder flush. Of course, it couldn't have hit the sideways one that is already out of commission. I took the blade off and drug it back behind John, squirting fluid up on me with every other bounce. Removed the cylinder and nearly broke an "easy" out. Tried to drill it out. I don't know. I see threads, and I could go a little bigger, but I don't want to screw it up. Easy out still doesn't work even with hardly any meat left of fitting. So I switched the sideways cylinder so at least I could get back to pushing. This time, to take it easy on John; I threw the chainsaw on my knee and took it with me. Got to the tree, pulled on the saw; and the recoil rope broke...
So I decided it was time to just take Francis and the boys for a ride to see what's in the woods. (hoping that all the bags are right about half full. Enough to maybe keep them down in the wind, but not enough to have to collect.) Most of the bags are half to 3/4 full, with a handful over the top. They are running slow, a drop every 3 or 4 seconds. At this point, I don't really care if they run over. I'm afraid to use any more equipment! We're about to eat lunch. The microwave seems to still be intact, so the afternoon may be looking up...
Oh yeah, EVERYTHING in the barn is soaked! Even stuff INSIDE toolboxes! What a day...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tapping
Yesterday we put out about 110 taps. We didn't get an exact count at the end, but it was pretty close to that. It was really windy when we started and the bags were blowing around quite a bit but the trees were running so hard the sap filling them started to hold them down before too long.
Bob & Julie Assembling Bag Holders
Usually it's just Michael and me tapping, but this year we had my family plus my dad, so we always had two drills going plus a couple of people assembling the bag holders and it went pretty fast. I did have to do a little clearing where branches had fallen in the way of getting to the trees, but nothing too large. Hopefully mud doesn't become a big problem again this year, but it's already really wet and rain is in the forecast.
We're going to skip tapping a few trees near the barn for a couple of groups we're expecting so they can see what tapping is about. On the 28th we have a Father-Son group scheduled to come out from Edna Martin Christian Center in Indy. It's a community center in an inner-city area so this will probably be a new experience for most of them; we're really looking forward to it. The other is a family that purchased a "Maple Syrup Day" that we donated to a benefit auction. Hopefully we can find a day with nice weather for them to come out and they can all get in on tapping and boiling.
Julie Hanging Some Bags
But, that's all down the road a bit. Unfortunately we still have some work to do to be ready. The biggest issue is some sugar sand left in the pans from last year that's going to be really hard to get out...hopefully we can take care of that on Wednesday. We're going to have to start boiling no later than then.
Doug Adjusting A Tree Tag
Austin Being Austin
Bob & Julie Assembling Bag Holders
Usually it's just Michael and me tapping, but this year we had my family plus my dad, so we always had two drills going plus a couple of people assembling the bag holders and it went pretty fast. I did have to do a little clearing where branches had fallen in the way of getting to the trees, but nothing too large. Hopefully mud doesn't become a big problem again this year, but it's already really wet and rain is in the forecast.
We're going to skip tapping a few trees near the barn for a couple of groups we're expecting so they can see what tapping is about. On the 28th we have a Father-Son group scheduled to come out from Edna Martin Christian Center in Indy. It's a community center in an inner-city area so this will probably be a new experience for most of them; we're really looking forward to it. The other is a family that purchased a "Maple Syrup Day" that we donated to a benefit auction. Hopefully we can find a day with nice weather for them to come out and they can all get in on tapping and boiling.
Julie Hanging Some Bags
But, that's all down the road a bit. Unfortunately we still have some work to do to be ready. The biggest issue is some sugar sand left in the pans from last year that's going to be really hard to get out...hopefully we can take care of that on Wednesday. We're going to have to start boiling no later than then.
Doug Adjusting A Tree Tag
Austin Being Austin
Friday, February 6, 2009
The 2009 Season is Starting
I haven't updated this since last season, hopefully I'll do a better job this year & we can use it to track how the season goes.
We have been busy the last couple of Saturdays and last Wednesday getting ready for the season, and this Saturday (Feb. 7) we'll be tapping our trees.
The only big change for this year is installing new doors on the front of the arch to convert it back to wood. After the initial investment that should save us several hundred dollars this season. This also involved the re-installation of our 12" smoke stack. We discovered that one of the elbows had rusted out while stored outside so we have a new one on order.
Wednesday we had to talk the gas company into delivering us 100 gallons of LP instead of their normal 200 minimum. Michael was able to talk direcrlt to the driver & get him to come out, so we gave him some syrup as a thank-you. With gas at 2.29 a gallon we weren't too excited about paying for 100 gallons we don't think we're going to need.
Wednesday we had to talk the gas company into delivering us 100 gallons of LP instead of their normal 200 minimum. Michael was able to talk direcrlt to the driver & get him to come out, so we gave him some syrup as a thank-you. With gas at 2.29 a gallon we weren't too excited about paying for 100 gallons we don't think we're going to need.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)