We fired our 2’x3′ Mason evaporator for our first boil ever. We boiled ~80 gallons in 12 hours. We’ve learned lots of lessons and will have to make several improvements to our current setup. It’s still very cool that we are now able to produce more than enough maple syrup to cover our family’s yearly consumption.
The smell is great
Boiling well into the night
We still need to finish the syrup on our cookstove, filter it, and can it.
Beautiful day for new beginnings.
The biggest Maple we’re tapping, 3 buckets all to itself.
Sap came right out, it was an exhilarating experience.
We’re doing a birch tree out of curiosity.
The next day.
Of course we had “plumbing” issues and had to prop a storage tank up to avoid leakage of the precious fluid.
We pulled ~50 gallons the first 24 hours. We’re scrambling to finish getting the evaporator ready; fortunately, the following days saw a lot less sap flow which will let us finish getting our last few ducks in a row.
We are getting ready for this coming season of Maple Sugaring. Nicole will be doing the bulk of the work. I’m in charge of getting the ducks in a row so we can hit the ground running when the sap starts flowing.
To this effect, we purchased an evaporator and 40 buckets & spouts. This should give us 10 to 15 gallons of syrup but the season could be weird given the “winter” we’re in now.
The model we have is a Mason Welding 2’x3′ Hobby Evaporator. It’s supposed to evaporate at ~8 gallons per hour.
Not my picture, ours is currently wrapped up.
I need to brick it and get a chimney for it.