She's Upgraded to Outside

David came home early the other day and tinkered around a bit with the evaporator. He was working on his wheel idea and found some from the finish mower for the tractor that we weren't using. One of the advantages holding onto lots of shit is that it comes in handy when doing DIY projects on the cheap! The idea was a good one but once David got the wheels welded on and tried moving it the one on the left side was locking up and not rolling. In the end he scratched the wheel idea and welded brackets on either side of the tank. He strung chain through the brackets which he attached to the bucket of the tractor and transported it that way. We figured once it's in place it doesn't really need to move so wheels weren't actually that necessary in the end.

The random cement pad now has a purpose to house the evaporator since it's relatively level and near the buckets. We'll probably need some form of a cover since it's open to the elements, and especially bird poop, since it's directly under our large maple in front. We'll attempt test boils this weekend to get ready for the flow that looks like it will start beginning of next week!

I like the illusion how it looks smaller now that it's outside

Buckeye in Cake Form

I made another cake :o) This was for a friend in our small group who was turning 49 this week. It came as a surprise, however his wife filled me in that he likes peanut butter and chocolate, which resulted in this bad boy! It was chocolate cake and peanut butter icing with chocolate ganache on top. I was told it tasted like one big buckeye, which sounds like a keeper recipe ;o) The chocolate ganache just dumped and spread on top seemed a bit much to me, so next time I think I'll do a little drizzle instead. I'm sure they'd be good as cupcakes too!

Almost There!

It may have been cold and snowy but work still needs to be done. This weekend was spent attaching valves to drain the sap/syrup, adding dividers to the large pan, and filling the pans with water to check for leaks and welding the leaks closed. Pah! If only it was that easy to weld the leaks closed. I'm sure if David was writing this he would say it was a big f*#@ing pain in the a$$!! Seriously it sucked, but David was persistent and finished late Sunday night. Next tasked will be to clean out the tanks, do a couple of boils and we should be good to go for the most part. Wheels will happen at some point but we don't need them to at least start.

I love how still it is when it snows out here

Valve to extract the mostly finished syrup

Layout for the dividers

Marking the pan for even spacing

Locating leaks when the pan was filled with water and welding them closed. Check out David's new welding helmet! I took the initiative and just got him a nice one. Definitely worth the money to have a nice helmet on a project with this much welding.

This one sucked royally. We filled it but the welds to close the leaks weren't working with water in the pan. Located the leaks using the air compressor to see the bubbles and mark the spots (that is where the water did help). Drain the pan. Weld the holes. Add water again. Check spots, weld again. As I said, big pain in the a$$.

One thing that David and I realized this weekend is how much the pans can hold. The preheater holds ~40 gallons and the large pan ~50. We figure the preheater will be a good storing container for sap collected through the week and then we'll probably just do one boil a week. Learning as we go.

Progress Made

It's been insanely cold here lately, and even though David has a heater for the garage, we've been laying low inside recently. It's also helped that with the cold the sap isn't flowing again so that means we still have time to complete the evaporator. We're definitely in the home stretch, just having to finish welding the trays, attach the faucets (3) and line the inside of the tank with brick before we have the bare minimum done to at least start if we run out of time. We're still hoping to add tires and some way to move this beast when need be.

Vent stack opening installed and caulked

Door cut and hinged. Small adjustments to get the door to shut flush

Searching the scrap bucket for materials for the handle and latch       

            Handle and latch assembled. Added bracing to keep the door from warping with the high heat

Valentine's Day Baking and Pinteresting

Valentine's Day was Saturday so I thought what better time to make some baked goods for others, and of course I would need to taste test to insure quality control. I decided to decorate some sugar cookies and then make a layered chocolate cake. I'm slowing realizing how much I despise actually decorating cookies, as you can see in the picture below of my extremely clean and orderly work space below. I'm becoming a fan of the drizzle effect which turns out half decent but takes little to no skill or time to execute. I really am enjoying making layered cakes and love how they come together. Quick, easy and pretty.

I always manage to run out of space. Who can find the salamander shape glob of icing?!

Num Num Num!

Next was a project I found on Pinterest making coasters that look like polaroids. Really easy craft that in my opinion results in a nice final projects. Great for a gift too as a set of 4. 

I love how each one has a story

Collected

Just as I thought we didn't get much, maybe 3 gallons. It's hard to tell because there are a few blocks of ice in the buckets. Looks like it's supposed to get incredibly cold so not much as far as collection will be happening anytime soon. In the mean time I've been doing some baking and pinteresting so pictures of those projects to come.

You can see the block of ice on the top

On a side note our turkeys came wondering yesterday. They seem to enjoy the left over bird seed. They're fun to watch.

Tappin' Time!

The past month has brought with it some abnormally warm days. Each one of those times David was adamant we should tap our trees! I kept saying it was way too early, however this past Sunday I’d say we met in the middle and pulled the tappin’ trigger for our 2015 maple syrup season! The following are the events of the day:

• David continued welding the seams
• gathered buckets and materials from the bottom shed
• washed all the materials with soap and water in utility sink
• gathered buckets, lids, spiles, drill, 3/8” drill bit, rubber mallet and wheel barrel
• David drilled the whole 2” deep (marked on the drill bit) on the trees previously marked from last year (marked in the fall when I could distinguish them by their leaves); if the trunk of the tree looked large enough he double tapped the tree
• I pounded the spile in the hole, attached the bucket and lid
• used 19 taps (missing one spile)
• probably half the taps were dripping sap by the time I got the spile in the tree

Checking on the buckets today not much happened considering the temperature fell back under the freezing point and has stayed there. Tomorrow is supposed to rise back up to around 40 so most likely we will have our first collection for the 2015 season.

                         Lots of spiles                                    All clean (white buckets are for collecting the sap)

Here we go! 

It be drippin'!

Let's Catch You Up!

This time last year David and I ventured into making maple syrup from the trees on our property. We learned a ton about what to do and what not to do. I didn’t document the process that much, but here are a few of the highlights:

• started March 1st
• 20 taps (our buckets, spiles and lids were a gift from David's parents)
• collected ~250 gallons of sap throughout the season; most we collected in one day was 50 gallons
• lost/wasted probably 80 gallons due to spoiling or burning the syrup in the final stage
• stored sap in 5 gallon buckets, a trash can and a 55 gallon drum
• used 2 gallon buckets with lids and handles to collect the sap
• first attempted evaporation with a portable double burner…bahahaha! That idea lasted a whole hour, the sap barely even steamed, it was returned REAL quick
• second attempt was a wood fire; couldn’t get it hot enough so the sap barely boiled; also extremely messy with all the soot and a pain in the a$$ to clean the pots and pans
• next bought a stove top off of craigslist, wired it to plug into an outlet, then set it on top of David’s busted table saw (kitchen reno killed it); this process worked decently well
• the stove top allowed us to boil down about 5 gallons every 2 hours using 3 large pots and a small dutch oven
• made a little over 2 gallons of syrup for the season

Materials cleaned                                                               Buckets hung  

1st attempt at evaporation - straight up pathetic!

2nd attempt at evaporation

3rd attempt at evaporation                                       As you can see the winter takes a toll on David                 

Storage containers...we're pretty classy up in here

           Finishing up on the stove                                            Sweet, delectable, liquid gold                

Once we concluded our season I told David we either figure out a better way to evaporate or we use fewer taps. The process we had just couldn't boil the sap quick enough with the rate we were collecting. I wasn't a fan of hauling that sap up the hill just to throw it out once it started to smell like rotten eggs.

Well it’s 2015 and David accepted the challenge! He’s definitely one to research so after countless hours of the internet and YouTube, the following are pictures of his process to build an evaporator that will hopefully boil 13 gallons an hour!

• bought a large tank on Craigslist used for heating oil storage
• bought bed frames at Habitat resale store to use to hold the containers filled with sap
• one of David’s buddies, Alan, came over and helped him cut the top off, flip it over and tack weld in place
• bought two 4’x8’ pieces of metal from a local metal shop (pans we were looking for were either not big enough or WAY too expensive so the next logical step would be to make them!)
• many hours have been spent experimenting with what will work and learning it doesn't, but in the end after much collaboration we land on a solution

Tank cut and semi assembled

TOP: David fixing the heater BOTTOM: Thankful for David's coworker who lent him a plasma cutter

I love the sparks that the grinder makes. We realized the larger container needed scored before we could bend the sides

Admiring his handy work. The tall container will preheat the sap so it doesn't lower the temp of the boiling sap in the large box.

Tack welding the boxes closed

Welding hoods are just accessories                       Better                            Looks like tiny fireworks :o)     

Grate assembled with back plate so the wood doesn't fall through