batch boil

[CTsugarMan]

If your batch boiling, what should the depth of the SAP be? 1 inch 2 inches?

Looking for opinions thanks

[bee crazy]

well, it doesn't matter since your going to boil untill it is all syrup anyway. When I batched I started up with a level I knew was 50 gals of sugaR water and cooked it down to about 3/8 of an inch then pulled the pan. I could tell by the temp I was close.
Steve

[Ausable]

Hi CT - Being You are new at this - I would stick with about two inches or more. When I Batch boiled - my pan was about 30" x 30" and I had a 55 gal. drum for my stove using a barrel stove kit. I would put the sap in and start the boil and I also had a couple of large pots I used for preheaters. When the level from my batch pan would drop I would add hot sap from my preheaters. I would keep this up till I either ran out of sap or I was tired of boiling and boil what was in my batch pan down to near syrup. Ok - keep some defoamer on hand (butter or olive oil etc) in case you suddenly see a lot of foam rising in your pan - couple of drops will knock the foam down. When You get to near syrup - You will notice big - shiny bubbles forming. The near syrup will ladder on a spoon - put some in a test cup and check with a syrup hydrometer to see where you are at. Before You get real close to syrup - I would transfer to a smaller pan or pot to finish into syrup. Your syrup hydrometer is a very inportant tool for making a first rate maple syrup ---- I learned the hard way. Hey - I left some things out - but - if like everyone else - I'm sure you have been reading a lot of the posts and have a pretty good idea about making maple syrup already. Best of luck. ----Mike----

[CTsugarMan]

Thanks Mike really appreciate it

[CTsugarMan]

well, it doesn't matter since your going to boil untill it is all syrup anyway. When I batched I started up with a level I knew was 50 gals of sugaR water and cooked it down to about 3/8 of an inch then pulled the pan. I could tell by the temp I was close.
Steve

Hey Steve thanks, how xt9 you like that half pint... next year I was going to build a better arch setup, or buy the half pint... advise?

[Big_Eddy]

CT - depends on how fast you want to boil, how tied you want to be to the evaporator, and how far along your syrup is.

I batch boiled on a 2x3 flat pan for years. If I wanted to sit close and feed small wood, I'd let the level get down to an inch and feed wood every 5-10 minutes and I could evaporate 6 gals/hr. If I needed more wood (happened regularly) I'd open the valve, fill it to 4", stuff in some big pieces and go collect more wood. I'd be gone for an hour and evaporate 4 gals in the hour.

When I was approaching a batch done (50-80 gals in) I'd feed twigs every 2 mins and coax it down to 3/8" before pouring off.

My typical mode was to run between 1 and 1 1/2" while I was there and fill to 3" before walking away even for a short while. In a 2x3, each inch is ~3.5 gals. and you evaporate 4-6 in an hour.

Once you run out of sap - stop adding wood and let the heat in the coals take it the rest of the way there. (Save a few gals for safety and thinning if needed)

After a while, you'll get to know your setup better. With 2 pans, I'd be tempted to run low on the raw sap side and a bit deeper in the concentrated pan

[CTfarm]

I run about an inch when I'm sitting around my 2x3 pan. Sometimes less. I try to keep an eye on the hole where the drain is in the corner to judge, but sometimes there's to much steam and I feel the depth with the skimmer. Keep some olive oil handy. I had to use some this last weekend.