35 and thunderstorms overnight.  Today cloudy with showers and windy.   Up to 42. 

Into the woods by 9:00 AM to get syrup on the finishing pan.  Discovered a mess in the syrup pan of the evaporator.  cryalized pan

Had a moment of panic as we thought it was burnt.  After inspecting and scraping we determined that syrup had crystallized in the pan.    On Monday we finished by 11:30 and were back at the house by Noon.  We had about 1 ½ inches of sap in the pan. But it was concentrate.  And with the heat from the sap and low fire it continued to evaporate to well past the density of syrup.  As the fire died the syrup cooled and then crystallized because it was so dense.  If there was more heat from the fire it would have burnt the pan.   And that would have ruined the pan.  Burnt on sugar does not come off and the pan warps when it burns.    With warm water and scraping we were able to melt the crystals and remove it.  The pan is fine.  Not even warped.    We were very lucky.  This is the closest we have come to burning the pan.  We did loose 3-4 gallons of what would have been finished syrup.

By 10:30 AM we had finished syrup in the finishing pan.   Started filtering and we could tell something was wrong.  It pumped too easily and the syrup looked cloudy in the tube as it left the filter for the milk can.  We checked the syrup. It was cloudy.   After finishing filtering we checked the filter press.  One of filter papers wasn’t correctly aligned.   There is a ¾ inch hole on the filter paper that has to align with a corresponding hole on the press plate.  We were about half the diameter out of alignment.  The syrup did not flow properly though the press.    Back into the finishing pan to re-heat and re-filter.  We were careful to align everything.  This batch was fine.   We can’t control the color of the syrup but we can control the clarity by filtering properly. 

Getting more windy.  Tonight may snow about 1 inch.  The weather pattern should change Thursday into Friday.  We don’t expect sap right away, but the colder pattern holds over the next 5 days at least.   If that doesn’t trigger sap, this season is over.