evap issues with concentrate

[bushmark]

I am running a 5by14 hurricane into a 2by 6 finisher.... trouble is the the 2by 6 makes syrup in the middle creating large batches and messing up the marcland drawoff. Tryed dropping the 2by 6 arch at the drawoff half an inch and fiilling the arch under the pans with bricks to force the flames aganist the pan bottoms with moderate success....anything else can do??? This sugaring with 6percent sugar sure sensitive!! Not even thinking going to 8brix??!! Much obliged my maple brothers!

[Jeff E]

I think your on the right track. What do you heat your 2x6 with? consistant heat is a huge deal in finishing.
Keep you firing consistant so you have nice consistant stack temps (thus consistant boil) and run low levels in the pan, like 1" if you dare, and things should smooth out.

[mapleack]

Simply too much syrup pan for concentrate? Assuming you're 5x14 has syrup pans on it and not all flue perhaps up to 8% conc and quit using the finisher completely.

[Mark]

I ran my 5x14 with a 2x6 finisher for about six years and never had that problem with 12 brix sap. Worked so good I have been thinking about hooking the finisher back up. I changed the sugarhouse around and did not have time to set it up, there it sits. Is it oil fired? If it is oil fired can the oil burner see the back of the pan?

The only problem I had was when going to higher brix sap I was running too shallow and had a hard time getting the syrup out of the draw off fast enough. I put a manual valve next to the Markland and ran with the valve a little open. If it needed to draw more off the draw off would open.

[bushmark]

Thanks Boys...mark back again. One of the best years ever in Muskoka!over a litre per tap and still 12 inches frozen snow in the bush...The RO sure kicks the wood supply Been gathering 2 days &storing sap try to darken the grade to Med..not much luck,loads of light syrup. The reason i love the 2by6 is to rotate & clean the pans...those 2by5 pans hot&heavy; yes fire them both with hardwood. A trick we learned on Lappierres Quebec tour, baking soda&hot water sure cleans the nitre off! Thanksagain &have a greatsugar season! PS Anyone out there with dark amber? Love to trade maple mark

[wdchuck]

Tell me more of this baking soda and hot water trick. We get a pretty heavy buildup on our pan, even with switching over every day.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We have 8% on a 5 by 14 king with an auto-draw off at about 1 degree below syrup and then batch in a 2 by 4 propane finisher (one pan with no dividers). We normally do about 15 to 25 gallons in a batch and stir it to keep it consistent and then test with a hydrometer in a cup to decide when to take it. I want to add another membrane (one Mark E8 now) to get up to 12% or higher in the future.

[802maple]

I would get rid of the finisher and finish on the evaporator also.

[wiam]

I would get rid of the finisher and finish on the evaporator also.

I agree with you Beanie

[maplwrks]

What????? You can't control the 5x14 enough to make syrup on it, but you can run 2 wood fired evaporators at the same time?? Get rid of the finisher and become a real sugarmaker and finish on the big rig. Using a finish rig is like riding a bike w/ training wheels.... Sorry for being hard on you, but you are creating yourself more work then you need to. I also hate finish rigs.....

[markct]

The way i use my finisher is more as a filter tank, i usualy draw off the evap a touch heavy and thin back to proper density with less done syrup once the finisher is mostly full. This works well for filtering as you can keep the whole batch hot and not have the filter press cool between batches.I almost never boil in my finish pan.

[MillbrookMaple]

We use the same process as Markct. I usually end up being about .5 -1 brix over and when we get to around 18 gallons in our finisher we bring it to 211 and test and water it down to the right density, filter it in to the caner or large container. For draw off, I am always running into syrup in the middle of the pan on the first pull so I just start a continuous draw (trickle) when the hydrometer is about 7 away from syrup. As it gets closer the first time I slowly increase my draw until it makes it to syrup and adjust up and down always keeping some draw as long as I am within 2 degrees of syrup. After about an hour I usually have a continuous draw that is pretty stable and works for the whole night. This year we were using around 15% concentrate and found the worst part was that amount of build up in the flue pan. I am planning on building an air injector for next season to help combat the problem.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Studies show you will not get less buildup in the flue pan with a bubbler but the buildup will be a lighter color. I can attest to this. I have a lot of build up (boiling 25 to 17%). End of season my flue pan gets a long vinegar soak to remove the build up. Some guys drain the flue pan after each boil and let it soak in permeate or circulate permeate through it.

[Russell Lampron]

I use my finisher like markct too. The density is usually heavy, part of the fun of boiling with a 2x6 and I thin it down before filtering. I call it a finisher but it is really a filter press tank and heater.

I built an air injector for my evaporator and it has helped me make lighter syrup. Look at the Bubblemaster 1.0 thread in the homemade maple equipment forum. The nitre in the flue pan is still there but it doesn't sit on the bottom of the pan and burn anymore.

[bushmark]

Hi Boys; The baking soda works well for me...1 to 2 cups in a 2by2 pan, foams up 2hrs comes clean. the advantages are many with the finisher. No pan cleaning nitre deposit in the 5by 14; the hurricane too hot boil overs more with amber syrup cut the dampers way back then the charcoal builds up and cuts the evap rate way back too. Made syrup on a3:lol:by 12, and 4by 12 natural draft no probem... had issues with reverse flow pans on both. The thin nitre harder too remove always shows up the section before the drawoff... when reversed the draw section loosens some and the middle (thin) divider gets worse, black circles ..scorch! Much prefir too start a clean pan every time. Maybe the precambiam rock in Muskoka is different than the States? sure got to get busy and sell lots this summer! Cheerio boys, youall stay sweet, EH! Mark

[Jeff E]

It has been an issue for me this year as well. Niter build up in 3 of the 4 sections on my syrup pan. Reversing doesn't really help when the middle is nitered up in the first 2 hours. Last 2 years I had better luck by only concentrating to 8%. This season with the high volume of sap, I am running the RO more (life saver) so starting with 13-15% going into the steam pan.
Anyway, everyday is a complete clean out of the syrup pan: Drain, shop vac the loose niter, fill with condensate and Milk Stone remover (9:1) and let it circulate for about an hour. Then it cleans up ok, unless I have a scortch I need to scrub.
This adds about 90 minutes to every day, which is already to long!
Well, just a couple of more days here and it will be 70 deg., so sleep will come soon. Record year for me as well.
Sap Tsunami for the last 14 days or so.

[wiam]

My whole pan gets built up. Every day I drain front pan when the stack gets down to about 400. And fill with permeate. When you pour the cold permeate in the hot pan you can see the niter start to flake off. The permeate will get warm enough so you can not hold your hand in it. Then I walk away until the next day when most will scrub off. I have done this in the middle of a long day and only let it set for an hour

[Jeff E]

Do you let the fire go out totally, and are your pans soldered or welded. I get real nervous draining my pans where there is any heat left the evaporator (my pans are soldered)

[wiam]

Welded pans. I would do it if they were soldered. They are only empty for seconds. There are usually a couple of mostly burnt sticks left. I should have told my full cool down story. When I get to 7" left in tank I only put in pine. When I get to 4" I stop firing(this is what works to have the tank empty and not run pans dry). My stack runs 1200-1400 when boiling. When stack gets to 400-450 I turn off blower and open the door. This is when I drain the front pan. I brush it out with a nylon brush. Then quickly pour in about 4 gallons of permeate. Honestly I was nervous the first few times, but this year I moved temp a little higher. Works for me. If you are not quick enough there will be some sizzling.