Well with plenty of sap on hand, and the evaporator set up it was time to see what this baby can do! I did a quick one hour boil with water to flush all the pans out before I was ready to get started with the maple sap. I probably had between 32-35 gallons of sap on hand, so it was time to get a move on.
I enlisted my trusty wood/sap hauler to keep me fully stocked with a mix of hard and soft wood from our wood pile. I ended up re-splitting a lot of the wood into the sizes you see below. I had read that wrist size pieces of hardwood work best for the hot and fast fire you are suppose to have when boiling sap.
Reloading with some more wood after getting some initial coals going, it seems like I was loading every 7-10 minutes once things got going.
The syrup pan started with a roaring boil, and as we got into the night you can see the syrup start to change from clear liquid in the left photo to a tan-ish color in the right photo.
Our first video of the boiling process, I feel so professional!
