What gives??

[syrup2nv]

We have been making A Dark/B all week. So today we desided to do a little test. Sweet sap 2.2avg, fresh, and clean. We boil on a Small Bros 3 x 12, wood fired w/blower.

Boiled 12brl of 2.2 through the Small Bros today and made 8gal of B.

Meanwhile, I had taken 22brl of the same 2.2 to a friend's (always makes fancy) and boiled it through his rig. Its a Grimm 4 x 16, wood fired. He ended up with 20gals of BEAUTIFUL Fancy!! WTF!! Why? We clean every tank when we pump it, boil every run out, and always have fresh sap, as does he.

Is it because our rig is smaller and cannot boil as hard and fast?

Is it location? We are about 10 miles apart. He is a little bit higher elevation. 900-1000ft. We are 700ft.

Does anybody have an explaination?

[Kev]

do you run real deep and boil a long time to take off a big batch?

[3rdgen.maple]

Okay so the sap was fresh and clean but was the evaporator? I was making grade b and said the heck with that and did a complete washup and finished the sweet of in the evaporator on the finisher and started over with the same sap I was running through the evaporator and drew off grade a light after that.

[TRAILGUY]

I am at 700 ft clean the tanks and empty the Syrup pans completely after big runs and finish off and start fresh. syrup red tint, B and taste great

[Southtowns27]

How deep do you run your pans and how hard do you fire the evap?

[syrup2nv]

Syrup pan depth usaual 1 3/4 - 2" = 5 - 6 quart drawings approx 35 - 40mins apart.

We hammer the wood to it!! Fire 1 side at a time, about 3-4 mins apart. It boils VERY hard. It throws 8-10" flutes in the back pan!!

We drained the rig and cleaned twice this season! No change!

Tonight we dropped to front pan to about 1". Boiled 10brl through and made 16ish gallons of B! Drawings were around 1gal each about 20 - 30 mins apart.

Looks as if the season might end before we figure it out!

[WMF]

Might be your flue pan dividers are not designed properly or are leaking. Or your sap inlet into the flue pan is not right.

[W & B Maple]

You say it is fresh sap, but what do you use to collect it in and store it in. If is sitting in the sun in white plastic tanks for any length of time, it will produce darker syrup. It will also produce darker syrup if it is in a closed container that can heat up by being in the sun. If sap is warm, bacteria grows quickly and it will make darker syrup.

[Brent]

we had NEVER made anything darker than medium for 5 years, despite trying to. This year we have a bigger evap and suddenly we're getting medium and a bit of amber, despite having a steamaway and RO.

I think evaporator size has a lot to do with what you get.

There is not much of a channelled flow in the flue pans, like there is in the syrup pan, so some of the sap boils there day after day before randomly finding the port to the syrup pan. Gets darker and darker as it ages and boils.

If you could somehow dump it and start fresh in the flue pan, like some guys noted above when they cleaned, you've pretty well got to get lighter syrup.

So the next question is how do you use the "boiled many times" stuff that you drew off. I think we need dividers in flue pans to control the flow and keep the syrup from going to B.

[3rdgen.maple]

Brent your rig doesnt have a divider in the flue pan? Never seen one without it.

[Brent]

Yup, one divider, but there are huge gaps at the ends. Lots of mixing going on.

[Buckshot]

I make B grade if i let the float do its job.


I make light extra light if i run sap flow by ball valve.

[3rdgen.maple]

Yup, one divider, but there are huge gaps at the ends. Lots of mixing going on.

My divider is welded the full length. I would think with all the mixing in the flue pan it wouldnt help the process.

[Brent]

My Phaneuf had a welded in divider and a single delivery tube that dumped the raw saw in the back front. Good starting point. But there was a big gap at each end so some sap only had about 18" to got to get to the syrup pan port and some would take the long route. It was always on my mind to hang in a piece of sheet metal to encourage the flow the long way around. But then, we always were trying to make darker syrup, so I left it.

This new rig made medium, then one batch of amber, then everything has been just a bit darker than the medium grade. When I clean it this year, I'll study the guts a bit more. Can't see anything with the Steamaway on. This pan does have multiple ports going into the flue pan from the float box, and I think that may help if I knew which ones to plug. Might be like reversing the syrup pan and that may help. But once again, the folks that come up the driveway are syrup affectionados and want darker than we're making.

[syrup2nv]

Our rig has a rear divider that runs full length. There is a notch out on the tail end! We have a tube and a plug that we switch to change flow and draw off side about every 10-12gal! It mixes in out rear pan because it boils so hard.

Maybe i should make the divider taller?