Into the woods by 4:30 AM to cook. Only 85 gallons of sap, but since we had the R/O setup we used it. Had to rinse the R/O before starting because we didn’t run the rinse cycle the day before.
Couldn’t get rolling boils because we didn’t have enough sap. Kept the fire smaller. Still boiled, but not as hard so it still took us 4 hours to finish. Took a final batch off at 8:00 AM because it was getting too close to syrup. It would have crystallized or worse, burnt, if we left it in the evaporator. Fired enough to get it done, but not leave much fire and heat under the evaporator. When the batch was complete, the concentrate tank was empty and the fire low. Only about 3/4” left in evaporator. This makes emptying the evaporator for the last boil easier.
The day cooking.
5:05 R/O start
5:45 batch
6:05 R/O done
6:05 3.25”
7:00 3.00”
7:30 batch
7:30 1.75”
8:00 batch
8:15 done
Back to the farmhouse by 8:30 AM.