Yesterday I squeezed my one hour run in first thing in the morning, then it was off to BJ's for a full day making syrup.
BJ loading evaporator with wood in the morning. Sap in pan is already simmering.
The process involves keeping the sap at a constant boil and a consistent level in the pan.
BJ watching closely
Laurel slacking off
The pan is three-chambered. Prewarmed sap drips into the far right chamber from the warming tank. As the sap thickens it is pushed into the middle and then finally the far left chamber, where it can be run off from a spigot on the side.
When the syrup reaches the correct viscosity, as measured with a hydrometer, it is put into the filter tank. It passes through a paper and a felt filter to remove impurities.
The hairy arm pictured above is not mine.
It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. All the equipment in these photos, evaporator, evaporator pan, warming tank, filter tank, etc, were made by Billy Mason of Porter, Maine.
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