Pan In the Flames?

[Mattbchillin]

Should the pan be above the flames (with them kind of touching or should it literally be in the fire, with the flames engulfing it? Im using a 1 pan cinderblock arch. I did a few 6 gallons boils but it looks like this weekend will be closer to 15 gallons. I have the cinderblocks 3 tall and the pan (buffett pan) resting on the top by the pan edges.

[Mikeh]

Two years ago I used a 3 block high cinderblock arch with 6" deep buffet pans and I used a 4" high fire grate on the ground. It worked fairly well and with two pans I got 4 gallons per hour of boiling. I'm not sure if the fire was licking the pans or surrounding it but I ran the hottest fire I could in the height I had. I had the best luck when I could get the heat on the front of the first pan (I had two pans in my arrangement). So I extended my cinderblocks to the front a bit and made a sheet metal "L" shaped cover to bridge over from the front of the front pan to the front of the cinderblocks. I used a cinderblock chimney but my stovepipe attempt is still sitting on the arch. The cinderblock chimney worked better. Good luck!

7254

[PerryW]

I vote for "literally in the fire"

[dufftj]

Last year I had a 22x19 single compartment sink on a block arch with the strainer hole soldered shut. The sink sat down into the firebox and I would stuff as much wood as i could until it was touching the bottom of the sink. After the fire was going really good I would slow the flue gasses down by placing a piece of plate steel on top of the stack. The flames would be forced up into the sink, where the strainer was soldered shut it would really splash around.

Tim

[psparr]

Your gonna lose a good but of sugar when it scorches to the side at the water line.

[RileySugarbush]

Drop them in and keep them filled as high as possible without too much splashing out when boiling hard. It is not so much a matter of flames in contact with with the pans but of wetted pan area exposed to the heat in the arch. You may be able to double your evaporation rate compared to just having the bottom exposed. There will be some scorching around the edge but the syrup will filter out fine and it will not taste burnt from them.

[happy thoughts]

I ditto what riley said. Get them down into the fire. This is my second year on a block arch with steam pans. This year I'm running the pans filled deeper and am much more pleased with the results than last year when I ran the pans shallower. It's the area above the sap line that will scorch and that imho will get you darker syrup.

[dave44090]

I'm doing the same thing this year, but my cinderblock arch is only 2 clocks high. This is my first year with this setup but I am very happy with the results. I shove as much wood in there as I need, sometimes up to the pan itself, and let the fire rage. I just make sure to keep an eye on it, and keep my 2 pans filled all the time.

As others stated before me, you'll end up with a really good boil from putting the pans in the fire. The bubbling sap with scorch the pan, but I see that as collateral damage that needs to be cleaned up afterwards, not fun, but necessary!