how does one dismount a hot steam table pan?

[eustis22]

mine are fully sunk into my arch and getting the nearly finished syrup out is turning out to be problemmatical. I'm running out of thumbs. Any ideas on how to easily transfer the sap or get the pan out?

[spencer11]

i put I bolts on the lip they stick up about 4 inches and then i just grap them and lift the pan out. i would get pics up but it wont let me???

spencer

[eustis22]

I thought about that using eyebolts but then there would be a small gap between the pan and the lip of my arch...what would I fill that with?

[C.Wilcox]

Keep a handful of wooden wedges near the arch. When it's time to draw off you drive the wedges under the lip of the pan to raise it up enough to get a grip on it. I recommend you get a pair of heat resistant grilling gloves if you haven't already and BE CAREFUL when you pull the pan out. The flame can have a tendency to rush toward the new influx of oxygen which just happens to be right where you are. Don't be wearing fleece or nylon or any other material that burns like vapor.

[happy thoughts]

Could you double the pans, one inside another? ..... assuming you have ones that are anti-jamming. The insert might be easier to get out as long as you can pry or lift the edge of the inner pan. You couldr put some heavy gauge wire lifters between pans- not to hold and carry, but just so you can separate the pans for hand removal.

[RileySugarbush]

Could you double the pans, one inside another? ..... assuming you have ones that are anti-jamming. The insert might be easier to get out as long as you can pry or lift the edge of the inner pan. You couldr put some heavy gauge wire lifters between pans- not to hold and carry, but just so you can separate the pans for hand removal.

That wouldn't work well. They would certainly jam and besides the evaporation rate would be horrible and the bottom pan would burn. So not a good idea.


We used to use fireplace gloves and pliers . Lifting on diagonal corners. And you can really cut down the heat by throwing a piece of thin sheet metal over the coals.

[Tom59]

I got a coupe of drawer pulls & pop rivit them to the end of pan. Works good.53315332

[emo]

I've used flat blade screw drivers to lift a corner or edge and use fireplace/welding gloves to lift the pan off. Once you get the pans off, if they sit that tightly to the arch box, maybe slip some loose flat steel under the lip of the pans so that you can push those aside and give you a gap to get under the lip of the pans

[spencer11]

I thought about that using eyebolts but then there would be a small gap between the pan and the lip of my arch...what would I fill that with?

Eustis22- there is no gap with mine. The bolt on the bottom is recessed in the lip. I txt me at 603-290-8202. And I will send you a pic of mine when I get out of school. Or email me at atvfanatic08@aol.com.

Spencer

[eustis22]

I like the wedge idea very much, and I'm investing in a pair of fireplace gloves before my next boil because insulated leather just doesn't protect as much as you'd think.

[valleyman]

Like Tom, I riveted handles on the pans. Very helpful and inexpensive. A bit more costly but a very good addition to the steam setup is the flat bottom syrup skimmer the "pros" use. I can get almost all the syrup out before flooding the pans with H2O.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see the handles.

[eustis22]

well, I HAVE a rivet gun and I can get those handles....sounds like a good solution.....thanks......Happy Boiling

[Peepers]

We just scoop ours out pretty good to finish in the house and then we quickly flood the pans with plenty of sap and eventually cover em up for the night as everything cools down. Then next time we start up the pans are already semi-sweet. :)
I also modified my rig so only the bottoms of the pans are exposed to the fire so I don't get scorching on the sides at the sap/syrup line. If the scorching wasn't cleaned off after each batch we always got darker syrup due to the scorch line. Avoiding the scorch gives us nice light syrup with barely any scorch. I used an old metal door skin with holes cut out that roughly fit my pans and some angle iron to support the pans on my block arch. My sink pans only hang down around a half inch into the fire now.

[eustis22]

In no particular order, valleyman,. spencer, and tom...thank you very much for the riveting handle idea! added for yesterdays boil and hthe post boil syrup handling was a breeze...no burned thumbs, no burned pans...you have my deepest appreciation!

[smokeyamber]

Welding gloves are soooo nice when boiling. Good for when the log falls out of the arch onto the floor ... also nice for lifting pans out.

[jake22si]

I put welding gloves on, open the door and push up the front of the pan and then grab the sides from above. My pan is only like 20x14 or so it is probably much lighter than yours.

[70 Buick]

I made my barrel evaporator with an edge so the steam pan lip stick out makes irt alot easier, but I still used dollar store oven mitts to pull em out

Fist year I had no lip, so we just used a flat screw driver