2x3 pan from smokey lake

[sg5054]

I was looking at the 2x3 hybird pan that smokey lake produces. Has anyone run one or seen one in action?

[fixin40]

I bought the 2x4 hybrid pan for this year and I can tell you Jim's claims of at least 250% evaporation rate over a flat 2x4 pan are true. I boiled on a cinder block arch in a tee pee and if I fed the fire every 10 minutes with wrist sized wood. I got 20 gal/hr and that was with a leaky front and cold sap affecting the boil. Very happy with the pan.

[lafite]

ditto on the 2x4 I bought. 24gph at the end of the season after tweaking throughout. bricks layered one inch below drop flues, warming sap. it was a work in progress but it surely delivered as promised.

[sg5054]

I am trying to decide which path I should take. Very interested in the homemade ro route but with an unheated shack and limited space for additional tanks at this time the pan might be a better although more expensive choice. It would be lower maintenance and less worry about freezing. Now if I could refrain from burning it I would be all set. A couple of times I couldn't boil fast enough to keep up with what I was collecting and I'd like to cut down on the marathon boils.
I'm thinking that a hybrid pan, preheater and hood may be the way to go. I don't have the space for anything bigger than a 2x4 evaporator in the shed.

[sugarmangraham]

I am in the boat as you sg5054. I am pretty much a one man operation and with a regular job working 40-60 hours a week I would like to cut down on the weekend marathon boils too. My shack isn't very big and its not heated so an RO isn't in the works for me as of yet. I would like somebody to post video or pics of one of these hybrid pans in action. I am very interested in one.

[boondocker]

Im getting ready to order a 16X30 flat finish pan from him to go on my new double burner set up. His stuff looks really nice!.

[sg5054]

Polished stainless is always really nice. They make it that shiny so you can't see the price tag until it's to late.....:cool:

[sg5054]

I hear ya sugarman.
I boiled pretty close to every night and all weekends for about 5 weeks straight. I made myself pretty comfortable with wireless internet, netflix, and a 19" flat monitor I found surplus. I became the chef boy o' boy of the sugar shack and cooked many meals out there for my son and I (and no it wasn't all sap dogs!). We had a great time but wow was I tired towards the end. I took a couple of days off after 3 weeks into it when I set the pan on fire....
My dad came up and helped a couple of times but I was still there and had to be "on" anyway. No real downtime.
Now how to come up with the scratch to get that pan. I can sell mine so that will help some.

What's a 2x3 pan worth?
What else do I have that isn't bolted down or nailed to a wall that I can sell.....

[seclark]

I would like to get some info on the hybrid from smokey lake,would someone please give me a contact address,thanks.I also would like to cut my boil times down,I then would collect more sap.:-|

[fixin40]

Jim at Smoky Lake Maple will respond to messages sent via his website and give you quotes on equipment. http://www.smokylakemaple.com/contact/. Last year I was in the same boat you guys were in, long boils.
I took a chance on the hybrid pan and made 6 times the syrup in half the time boiling.

[daniel_wentworth]

I have a Leader half Pint and for sure need to come up with faster boiling times. Nice little evaporator but made 18 Gals this year and seemed to be married to it. I think he has pans for his also.

[bowhunter]

Daniel,

I have the same issue with the half pint. Here's a link to Smokey Lake Maple 1/2 pint high output pan. It really looks interesting. I think you could build a small RO for $400-500 that would add about the same capacity.
http://www.sugarbush.info/forsale/showproduct.php?product=208&title=smoky-lake26quot-3bfull-pint-26quot-3b-high-output-replacement-pan&cat=9

[bowhunter]

I assume you were able to finish in the pan with no problems?

Thanks,

Dave

[sg5054]

fixin40,
How much wood did you burn? How close is your arch to the flues?

[fixin40]

I burned between 4 an 5 face cord, my flues are about 3/4 in away from the flues. I had 16 ft of six inch stove pipe for a flue to get a draw. This set up worked pretty good. The last two boils I put a vornado fan into 8 in ducting under my grates, and boy did the fire come alive! For next year, firebrick and insulation on a slab, 2 six in flues side by side, a float box(this year I just trickled the sap in cold), a preheater, and maybe an additional 2x2 pan with 3 paths so I can rotate for sugar sand.

[sg5054]

What are using for an arch? I insulated my mason with 1" fire board and then bricked it. The amount of heat loss is minimal even after 8 - 10 hours. I set up a float box and a 12v water pump to feed it. I made a quick and dirty pre heater that would warm the sap but not really get it hot. I could get the first channel boiling for 1/2 - 3/4 of it's length. The pump worked ok but the pressure switch couldn't handle the continuous on off cycling. I have a 300 gal sap tank that I am going to try raising high enough, about 4 ft, to gravity feed. I'm not sure if the float box will be needed as I will have a valve on the outlet of the pre heater to regulate the flow. A hood and expanded preheater is also part of this summers project list. I just picked up 8 10ft lengths of new 3/4 copper pipe for $10 each.

[fixin40]

I must have been tired with my last post. My arch was cinder blocks with 22 inches in between, the fire box portion was 20 inches deep and then angled up at about 50 degrees till 3/4 of an inch from the bottom of the flues, the fill for the arch portion was a combination of urbanite(last years broken cinder blocks) and crusher run. This combination of fill was held in place by cement bricks on the front side and topped with sand for a smooth surface. After the first boil the cinder blocks began to crack and leak, therefore losing a little more draft at every boil. The front of the arch was sheet metal with a barrel stove door. The smoke stack was 16 feet of 6 inch stove pipe. I did not preheat the sap so I was losing my boil in the back of the flue pan. I want a float box for next year so I can maintain the level better and some sort of preheater. This year I had a 150 head tank about 2 feet above the pan and regulated the flow with a valve, I think a float valve would make things much more efficient seeing how I was not as consistent as I could have been with the firing, those beverage runs do get in the way.

[Rocky Ridge]

With the hybrid pan, do you have any problems due to the fact that the front portion is not reversible?