Maybe its time to upgrade for 2012

[valleyman]

Currently I use 4 restaurant pans. I'm thinking about upgrading to a large single pan. I've been looking at Wegner Metal Works pans on EBay and they sound like a good value at 330.00 for 24x48.

1. Anybody use his pans?
2. Would a 24" pan work OK on my arch with about 21-22" opening?

[C.Wilcox]

valleyman,

A 24" wide pan would fit fine on a 21" or 22" wide opening. You need a little overlap on the sides to support the pan so that would work out well. Your signature says you have 30 taps...are you planning on expanding any time soon? If not, I would recommend a 2X3 instead of a 2X4. I find that if I boil my 2X4 down as far as I dare go I still have a minimum of 6-7 gallons of sweet in it. That means I have to do a fair bit of finishing in the house unless I boil through 240 gallons of sap before I draw off and that's almost a full season's worth of sap. With a 2X3 you'd be able to reduce the amount of sap you need to boil so you'd be able to deal with sap as you get it. Just a thought to consider.

[valleyman]

Thank you for the suggestion. Thats what I need to hear and learn. Maybe I can keep one restaurant pan to fill the remaining area as a preheat.

[PapaSmiff]

Valleyman: Are you only exposing the bottom of the Hotel Pans to the firebox, or are the sides exposed also? I was thinking of building a 2x4 or 2x6 evaporator this summer and using Hotel Pans until I can afford a real pan. I've read on MapleTrader that it's best NOT to expose the sides of the pans to avoid scorching.

If you are only exposing the bottoms, how is the evaporation rate? Does it get to a good rolling boil?

[valleyman]

I jumped into this crazy hobby before stumbling upon all the wisdom of the Mapletraders so I had to do some modifying. But my pans are still sunk in and I get a scorch line in the front pan before its done.

I reduced the scorch line a lot this season by filling my pans almost full to 1" of the tops. Except for the rear (preheat)pan which I turn on the feed tank valve barely to trickle in. I do that 'cause if you keep it close until you're boiling, the sap in the coil with burn and shoot out steam and burnt sap. Still not perfect but it works well enough. I posted some pics last night showing the rear pan.

Once the feed tank is empty and I can empty the rear pan, I fill it with water. I continue empty/fill the remaining pan until the front pan is the only one with sap in it which is nice and sugary at that point. That boils down to about 2-3 gallons and I finish on propane.

So by keeping the pans as full as you can during the boil you will minimize the scorch and take advantage of the burning hot sides of the pans. It cranks pretty nicely. I can get 8-10 gallons an hour. I learned that from a fellow "Trader.

One more thing I do is I buff out the pans with a soft wire steel wool wheel on a drill before each boil. Pain in the butt but the pans clean up pretty quick and keeps everything clearer.