Help Please !

[sugar ED]

ok the sap is running hard and I'm getting ready to fire up ,holding Tanks allmost full and with a better look into my divided syrup pan the two closes to draw off has a complete tan color on bottom of pan ,some ruffness, but no black areas ?So this is my first year on this unit ,(was a panner for years), and now I'm not sure if I should clean the pan ??? My syrup is getting darker, but no burnt taste, just alittle more maple flavor (now@ about 20 gal.) to clean or not to clean that is my question?? thank you all ,this is a great place to learn !!!

[sugar ED]

Sorry ,I should have mentioned maybe that this is a welded SS pan

[TF Maple]

I took advantage of this cold spell and no sap to can all the syrup I had so far and clean up the evaporator. I would have cleaned before the sap started running hard like it is now.

[Jeff E]

Clean it! That build up will eventually get scaley and you can get scortching under them. It also drops your syrup quality.

[sugar ED]

"Clean it! That build up will eventually get scaley and you can get scortching under them. It also drops your syrup quality. "
Thanks Jeff ,Just what I wanted to hear "not" but I've drained the syrup and cleaned it all up but THAT SPOT and oh boy, got any elbow grease !lol .. heared on here"not to use 00 steel wool" -unless you acid wash after (cause rust) ok ,and that vinger works in days (That I don't have,) Any one with ideas ? I do have acid tank wash and viniger???? Also why did this happen ? going to try to put a vidio on u tube for the not to do !!! Thanks again Jeff for the info ,hope all is going well for you !

[danno]

It happens to everybody. If it's not burnt (black) you can boil on it if you don't have time to clean. Quickest cleaner is acid, but that still takes time, and then rinse, rinse, rinse.

[sugar ED]

I'm in the process of clean it now ,till I get it done,but did get it on you-tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wH89hqVhiU ..... but any Ideas why it did this ? or how not to do it again ...Thankyou again

[Sugarmaker]

sugar ed,
Looks almost like pan was scorched? That darker brown looks a lot like scorch? Waht was the syrup grade you were making? That looks like it will take some elbow grease to remove. Yea vinegar solution might not help much on that.
How deep were you boiling?
By the way that is a very nice looking pan.
Chris

[sugar ED]

sugar ed,
Looks almost like pan was scorched? That darker brown looks a lot like scorch? Waht was the syrup grade you were making? That looks like it will take some elbow grease to remove. Yea vinegar solution might not help much on that.
How deep were you boiling?
By the way that is a very nice looking pan.
Chris

Hi Sugarmaker, It was light until about 20 gallons drawn off, the last 4 gallons has been getting darker ??? I've been keeping at about 1 1/2 inches down to about 1 inch ,and is when I get the best runs/draw offs ...but I have been finnishing in that pan (66 percent) mabe I should draw off sooner ? Oh and thank you (on the like my pan) as Curt Shaw of CNY ,Made it for me in a very short order, like the day before my first boil ,He dose do nice work !!!And I almost didn't clean it to day ,but it now looks new again ,spotless ,and to thing I was crying like a baby about it and with all your help and verry little elbow grease !! I will say I did try the scrubby pads, way to long ,lol and than the oo steel wool ,, what a laugh ,"Thinking got to use acid anyway " BUT after about an hour!! I broke out the acid (Leader pan cleaner) and at first nothing and with about two mins of heat, the SH_t desolved like melting butter, so now I know ,,, ok I did flush well well well than use baking soda and flushed again and again ... think I'm ready for tomarrow ,what a day for sapping it has been, 1230 I'm just done with dumping the pails again and the taps are still poreing that sweet juice !!got to love it !!

[sugar ED]

Could the build up, under the pan, in the fire box,cause scorching /browning inside bottom of pan ? The bottom has about 1/4 to 3/8 inch sute/black sh_t stuck to it ...should this be brushed off once in a while ? :confused: never had this trouble with the barrow stove ,but than again never made 20 gallons in 3 -10 hour shifts,ether, 30 hours total with inclueding start up/fire up time and cool off time, after 4 to 6 hours (heating fire brick )the thing eats sap,lol,at 7 hours had to cool off before sap ran out ,would flood pan after, not adding wood and no coals and the next day the whole pan was syrup ,the fist time it was to the point of thick hunny in two of the three partistions, Goldin sweet candy That was to close for me !

[Jeff E]

The soot build up doen't cause this, though you should clean it to get you efficiency up, and even out the boil.

The build up in the pan is sugar sand, or niter. This happens to every pan after you run enough sap through it.
The way to avoid it is cleaning the pan frequently. When I ran a smaller pan, I would wash it after every boil. When I got to a 2x8, I would drain the finish pan and clean that whenever build up would start.
Some evaporators allow you to reverse the flow of sap in the pans as running less concentrated sap over the build up can break it up.

Sounds like your pan is one big pan. I would recommend emptying it after a boil, when the build up gets started. Give it an acid bath overnight with a small fire under, then it should clean up good the next day. Rinse it down, put you sweet stuff back in and make some high quality syrup!

[Sugarmaker]

sugar ed,
Glad the pan cleaned up. Sounds like it was dark sugarsand deposit. And Yes I would scrape off the soot under neath tha's a lot of soot build up.
Good Luck making syrup this season.
Chris

[james ferguson]

use stainless steel cleaner or bulk tank cleaner you can pick it up at any farm supply center power wash pan first to cut most off 5 to 10 min than take 2 0z powder pour in pan and put in 3 to 4 in hot water brush a round let set 2 hr brush again let sit 1 hr power wash put pan back on fill ready to go i do this every day i have 2 sets of pans 3 yrs old they have about 2500 gallons each set through them and they look brand new keep them clean last long time