We use a wood stove for heat. We tap a single maple tree for fun. Before boiling the sap down in the kitchen, we passively reduce it most of the way in a pot on the wood stove. I'm wondering whether it reduces more if we do it in big batches or sequential small ones, and with or without a heat-powered fan. We use the wood stove to heat the house, and we don't change the temperature or run time for the benefit of the sap -- we just sit a pot of sap on top when we have a fire going anyway. On the wood stove, the sap evaporates, steams, and gets little bubbles on the bottom of the pot, but it doesn't boil. I'm wondering...
1. Is it more efficient to have a gallon or more of sap in the pot at once? Or to reduce one fraction, and then replace it with the next fraction? How many fractions would be most efficient? A couple of assumptions:
- We start the first batch of sap from refrigerator-temperature in the morning. We could queue up subsequent batches at room temperature first. But if batches are more efficient, is that the only reason why?
- We're using the same pot either way; it takes up most of the available flat surface we've got.
2. Is it more efficient to point our heat-powered fan (like this) at the pot?
This is just for fun, so we're not looking to buy anything or do anything less convenient to eke out more efficiency. But these couple of variables seem worth playing with, and they've also just piqued my curiosity.
1. Is it more efficient to have a gallon or more of sap in the pot at once? Or to reduce one fraction, and then replace it with the next fraction? How many fractions would be most efficient? A couple of assumptions:
- We start the first batch of sap from refrigerator-temperature in the morning. We could queue up subsequent batches at room temperature first. But if batches are more efficient, is that the only reason why?
- We're using the same pot either way; it takes up most of the available flat surface we've got.
2. Is it more efficient to point our heat-powered fan (like this) at the pot?
This is just for fun, so we're not looking to buy anything or do anything less convenient to eke out more efficiency. But these couple of variables seem worth playing with, and they've also just piqued my curiosity.