1st year, Leader half-pint, syrup TOO dark.

[trees909]

Hi everyone, this is my 1st year making syrup. I have 50 buckets on sugar maples (3%) and I'm using a modified Leader Half-pint. The arch has an extra 12" on the back end so that the preheater can set over the fire. It's piped to the front with a shutoff valve inbetween.

Most of my batches of syrup are too dark and they taste a bit burnt.
Leader recommends keeping 1 1/2 - 2" of sap in the main pan. The sap only seems to get close to 59 brix as the sap gets closer to and 1". When I add some more sap on the opposite corner to prevent burning my brix drops down. This makes a cycle of up/down that then takes 10+ hours to get to 59 brix. By then the syrup is dark and tastes burnt.

The only good batch that I've made was when the sap was about 1/2- 3/4". That batch only took a few hours to reach 59 brix but too shallow to use the draw off valve.

Is the problem from an inaccurate or inconsistent flow from the preheater pan?
Is my syrup actually burning?
What heights are you folks maintaining in the main pans?
THANKS!

[sapbrush]

Hi i have a half pint have boiled on it for years, never had burnt taseting syrup, i run about 1 to 2 inches in it, my preheat pan sits on the back of the main pan i keep that full and open one of the vaulves on it so it is just dripping into the front pan, so there is a constant flow, as the front pan boils more and more you will have to open up that vaulve more to keep the front pan at 1 to 2 inches, i have made real light stuff on it, it does take a while to burn big amounts of sap down , i just did 50 gallons in around 8 hrs, i also have a small fan in front of the draft door, keep at it its a new thing for you but they work great once you get the hang of it jim

[DonMcJr]

Not sure by reading what you wrote...Kinda sounds like you might be using it like a batch pan...it's designed to boil for about 3-4 hours then you start removing about a Pint every 1/2 hour of Finished Syrup. If you're not removing any and just keep adding til you are out of sap that's probally why it tatse burnt and is dark...It's burning at the drawoff..

Now I don't own a Half Pint but I am buying one Thursday and I have read alot about it...

Here's the Instructions incase you don't have them...

http://www.leaderevaporator.com/pdf_files/Half-Pint-Evaporator.pdf

[trees909]

I started off with the hopes of finishing my syrup (59 brix) on the Leader pan. I've made several gallons this way so far but they are all dark and taste burnt. Maybe it's not a good plan to finish it on the Leader. I just cleaned my pans and will attempt batch #9.
Thanks for the tips.

Also, I just heard from the guy I bought the rig from. He said he boiled with less than 1" in the pan. So far my only good batch was the one that I boiled at 3/4".

[johnallin]

I spent two years with a half pint and it made great syrup. Your raw sap should be entering the pan at the oposite corner of the drawoff, on mine that was the back right corner.. It may be that you are not getting a gradient and the stuff is just sitting in one spot. I ran ours at about 1 1/8" deep.
Our syrup did have a smokey taste at times and I found that was because the stack was basically right over the back of the rig and only 5' in the air.
They have a tendency to throw ash and such back into the pan if the wind is just right, that may be what you are tasting. Never did figure out a way to cure that though. I think you may be a bit light at (59 brix) though; you don't have syrup until 66 and some go as high as 68.

Stick with it; they are great little evaporators and unlike some other hobbies - you'll always get your money out of it when you move up.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

Not familiar with a half pint set up but my 3 by 10 drop flue evaporator will rise by a quarter inch if i do not close the valve wile firing. and if the fire is not hot enough it will make darker syrup too because it will mix backward easier because it will not be pushed along as hard.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I have heard of guys drawing off a few brix before syrup and finishing in the house in a pot due to the issue you are having. There is no rule that says you must get it to the red line on your hydrometer out side.

[trees909]

The North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual does state 66 brix for minimum density. Somewhere along the way I read 59 and that stuck. Thanks for pointing this out.

[Brent]

We had a Half Pint for a couple years.
How many hours did you boil on it continuously? Did you stop boiling, kill the fire and empty the pan to clean the bottom ? After several hours of boiling sugar sand can build up on the bottom and stick to the pan. If the build up gets too thick, the hot pan cannot pass the heat to the syup and the bottom of the sugar sand will scorch, passing the burnt flavor to the syrup. Everything can look quite normal while the problem exists under the boiling foam. You can boil quite well at about 3/4" and it will set up a better gradient and give you some small draws every half hour or so. The longer you boil, the darker it will get so you want to get some small draws going as soon as you can.

When we got our stack too hot the back wall of the pan would get splashed and that stuff would dry up and burn, but you had to be running real hot with a blower to make that happen. Put a baffle betweent the stack and the pan to prevent it.
Ain't the learning curve fun !!