Drawing off with my set up

[sams64]

I am running a 24" x 43" cross flow flat pan that I expect was a syrup pan in it's previous life as my only pan. The way I have it set up on my home built arch the divider runs the long way. I put in fresh sap at the front right and have a draw off at the front left. The set up is good and level and based o n the color I am actually setting up a decent gradient. (this needs to be confirmed by thermometer)

Up until now I have just been running batch boils, however, based on what I have in teh tanks and expect for flow inthe next few days I think that I will need to draw off during my next boil. Do I choose a draw off temp and keep measuring until what I pour off falls below that temp? Do I need to bring the pan level up beofre drawing off? (I usually run at about 1 to 1.5" deep.) Any thoughts on hpow I should go about this would be very helpful.

I do intend to finish the syrup on the turkey fryer or stove.

Thanks in advance.

Sam

[PerryW]

If you are going to finish on the stove anyway, how you draw-off isn't too critical.

But if you were drawing off syrup..., you would determine a draw-off temperature for syrup and keep drawing off till the temp. drops below that temperature. You also may find that the temperature rises beyond syrup during the draw-off so you may draw off a little extra thin syrup to compensate.

As far as bringing up the level prior to draw-off...... Usually a float would start adding sap automatically once you started drawing off; but if you don't have a float, you should maybe add some sap just before draw-off and then add some during (and after) the draw-off if the level gets too low.

[wnybassman]

On my little rig I carefully draw off into a briefcase thermos and if it doesn't float the hydrometer I dump it back in. If it just barely floats I very slowly draw off a pint or two. Then repeat the process. It's pretty close to syrup at this point and doesn't take long to finish in the house. Maintain the level throughout the boil. I try not to fluctuate more than a 1/4" if I can help it, and run it in 3/4" to 1" range. I have a $54 level indicator on my pan right near the draw-of. Some people call it a dial thermometer, but when I run my pan at 3/4" just the tip touches the sap/syrup so it is rather useless other than to keep tabs on the level. lol