Lots to discuss about Saturday!

Stay with me on this one- it may be long, but I promise it will be informative.

Since I posted last I collected about another 20 gallons of sap or so. It was enough both holding tanks were filled by Friday night when it got real cold.

Saturday morning I started off the boiling festivities. I got the evaporator set up outiside on the driveway and fired up the propane burners. The evaporator is a 2.5'x3.5' old lobster boiler made from stainless steel. Plenty of surface area to vent off that steam! I filled the evaporator with a few inches of sap, and started the pre-warming process on the stove inside.

As the evaporator started to boil, FIL Hoffmann and Co. arrived from the much anticipated trip from Hampden to assist the "new guy" on maple sugaring. An hour later BIL Hoffmann and Co. arrived safely from Stoneham. MIL was shortly behind from Falmouth.

Saturday was a cold day but Ethan, Bob and I spent plenty of time around the evaporator checking temps and trying to get the system down to a science.

Before we reached optimal temperature, we had a vist from our friends Steve, Mary Kate and Dylan.  Steve often entertains my crazy seasonal hobby ideas always lending full support. Here is a great pic of Steve, MK and Dylan all bundled up. It was only about 31 degrees outside, even by the maple sap steam!

In this pic below Hayden Hoffmann got to meet another little person. This is probably her first little Mainer friend. From left to right; Becca, Mary Kate, Steve and Dylan, Ethan and Liz and Hayden.

After about 8 hours of boiling, the 40 gallons of sap had boiled down to about 2 gallons in the evaporator. We were aiming for 217 degrees to pull it off the fire outside, and as soon as it did we brought it inside to finish it off for the last few degrees. As water was boiling at 211 that day, our aiming point was 218 to have finished syrup.

Here we have the **almost** finished syrup on the stove. Temps can rise VERY fast at this point so we are on constant watch for the next 3 degrees.

Bob looks on making sure that pot doesn't boil over!

As the temps rised towards finished syrup, MIL had plenty of "Hayden Time" and did a little posing for the camera!

As the nearly finished syrup boiled Ethan, Bob and I had plenty of time to smell the familiar smells of boiling sap, and strategize about next years plans for a real sugarhouse.

We are not sure what Ethan is doing here (below left), but either his hands are cold, or he is casting an evil spell on the syrup!

As the syrup reached final temps, we quickly pulled it off the heat and used a finish filter to get it nice and smooth.

After filtering, its in to the syrup bottles nice and hot! Here is the first bottle of "Frances Tree Juice"! Though I can't confirm what "Grade" this syrup is, it came out a nice amber color. Not too dark and REALLY sweet!

Below, Katy and Co. enjoy and old favorite-"sugar on snow".

The final finished batch for Saturday, March 29, 2008 was One Gallon in Bottles (2 Quarts, 4 Pints) with a full pitcher of syrup left over (in background) for all to enjoy for the Sunday morning pancake breakfast!

What a great, fun day with everyone and some great end product to boot! Its great to be a part of passing on old traditions to new generations. We cant wait 'till next time!

More later.