How in the!? I scorched it!

[OneLegJohn]

My level were good. The center of my front pan has a slight ripple now. I can't figure out how I did it.

I run pretty deep so I don't have to worry about a long draw. I hear niter buildup contributes to burning a pan. I did not reverse flow all year, but I cleaned pans every boil.

How often should I reverse flow in a 2X6 running 10% concentrate over a 12 hour boil?

[maplecrest]

after 3 hours you are pushing your luck

[John c]

Forgive my ignorance, but I kinda thought scorching a pan only happened when the liquid in the said pan got too low and burned the pan and sometimes warp the pan?
Or are you talking about a dark discoloration on the bottom of the pan where perhaps the heat from down below was consentrated too much in one area creating a dark spot?
I'm just curious what you mean by scorch?

John c.

[Dave Puhl]

When you start up do you help get the flow going...on mine when I first start the center starts boiling first...she could of made syrup in the center and layed there and burned till the draw off side was ready...

[Dennis H.]

You can scrotch a pan with plenty of liquid in there.
It happened to me this year. Luckily I was there to flood the pan.

What happens is there will be a very thick layer of sugarsand and niter build up on the pan and after awhile there will be not enough liquid in contact with the pan and then it burns!

[John c]

You can scrotch a pan with plenty of liquid in there.
It happened to me this year. Luckily I was there to flood the pan.

What happens is there will be a very thick layer of sugarsand and niter build up on the pan and after awhile there will be not enough liquid in contact with the pan and then it burns!

I see. I guess I don't really have to worry much about that since I typically only boil 50 gallons (MAX) of raw sap per session. Thanks for that info cuz now I'll know what to watch when I upgrade in the near future!

[3rdgen.maple]

Revers flow on a 2x6 is worthless in my opinion. There isnt enough surface area to get any benefit out of it and All your going to do is drain and clean it anyways.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have a 2x3 syrup pan which is the same size as some of the 2x6 evaporators have and I reverse it every 4 hours and I usually boil about 2500 gallons of sap before cleaning it, so I would have to disagree as I think reversing the flow is a great thing even on a small evaporator or a 2x2 syrup pan.

[Brent]

For what it's worth when I had the Phaneuf rig I asked Patrick to make me a reversible syrup pan. He came up with a great design but then told me that reversing a 2 x 2 pan wouldn't be worth it. Just get a second pan and take one off to clean. So that's what I did.

Then I learned that cleaning a pan was no big deal IF you follow the pan cleaner instructions. Mix the brew and apply a little heat. Now I can clean the 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 pan on this bigger rig in about 30 minutes.

But I will say that reversing is quite effective. Now if the reverse is going to be done before the start up the next morning, I draw off a half pail of near syrup, get the flame thrower going under the pan for a few minutes and most of the scale lifts off. I use a scoop to get the wosrt of it out and then finish the reversing and start up.

After fighting with scrapers and everything under the sun to get scale of a cold pan, the "apply heat" method seems like a cake walk not.

And no scorching because of scale build up.

[wiam]

I have a 2x3 syrup pan which is the same size as some of the 2x6 evaporators have and I reverse it every 4 hours and I usually boil about 2500 gallons of sap before cleaning it, so I would have to disagree as I think reversing the flow is a great thing even on a small evaporator or a 2x2 syrup pan.

I think this depends on sugar content of sap/concentrate. I boil 10% and would agree reversing a 2x2 pan would be useless. I stop and clean every 3 hours and nitre is built up in over 3 of the 4 compartments.

William

[Brent]

One interesting thing Willaim's comments bring to mind, the flame thrower will only lift nitre off the center two sections of our pan. The incoming channel has virtually none in it, and the draw off channel will not lift off with the heat when doing a reverse. But after running in the reversed flow for a few hours, that channel becomes pretty clean by itself.

[SeanD]

I have a 2x6 with two 3-foot flat pans. When I started getting the carmel off-flavor this year, I started paying more attention to the build up. In the past I only made enough syrup that I just cleaned up at the end of the season. I was amazed at how quickly the syrup channel caked up a layer and could use a spatula to feel it stretch its way down the other end of the channel.

When I really baked it on, I had to give it a good cleaning, but after that during a 10+ hour boil, I was able to switch sides every 2 draws and it made a huge difference. The built-up sand in the syrup channel dissolved away while the new syrup side started to build it up. I've only got raw sap going in and a few extra feet in the front pan, but it was definitely worth while to switch direction.

Sean

[3rdgen.maple]

You guys must not get niter like I get niter then cause reversing a 2x2 pan does absolutely nothing at all except drive me nuts. When I was searching for the new rig it was one of my questions and just about every manufacturer told me it was a waste of time and to just do regular clean ups cause I would be taking a chance of scorching the pan from the limited amount of sap that gets pushed through a 2x6. After trying the revers flow deal a few times the first year I had it I was and am convinced they are correct. Especially after that same year I reversed the flow and ended up scorching a quarter size spot in the pan. Never again will I bother on a 2x6. The only thing it did was buy me a hour or two before I had to cleanup anyways.