drawing off steam table trays

[Kyle M]

Getting ready to build my oil tank arch for the upcoming season, My question is for those of you who drop steam table trays into the evap, how are you drawing the syrup off of them? lifting with gloves and dumping seams like it could be risky/messy

[RileySugarbush]

As you start to run out of sap, ladle forward to the front pan. With gloves and pliers, grab opposite corners and pour last bit in front pan. It is a dicey operation! Some add metal handles to the flange to make it easier. Cover opening with scrap sheet metal to preserve draft if you want to get closer to syrup on the remaining pans. If you have many pans, just keep working forward.

Now the tough one. The front pan remains and is very full of near syrup. If you ladle out too much it may burn. You might have a big pile of coals, particularly for those with a block arch or poor draft. You can rapidly stop the boil and save your skin by throwing some sheet steel over the coals to block the radiant heat.

On a side note, I never realized I could have just stopped firing and covered for another day when I had my old steam pan rig. I always finished and emptied every day. It would have been nice to shorten some of those loooong days!

[moondog]

I use a block arch and 3 steam table pans. I set up a siphon that goes from pan to pan (got the idea on another thread). It works great. I monitor each pan with a thermometer, and ladle out of the final pan just before syrup. I finish in a converted turkey fryer pot. You need to watch the level in the pans, and if they seem much different you probably lost the siphon. The siphon is easy to get back if it's set up right. As I run out of sap and a back pan gets low, I remove the pan and slip in a piece of flat steel in its place, and then empty the pan into the next one. The end is a little tricky when you're by yourself, but I worked by myself 4 weekends last year and all was fine.

[kiteflyingeek]

If you have multiple trays / pans, ladle forward and keep the back pan full with the fresh sap. When you are out of more sap to process, pull the pan out and pour into next pan. Then what I did was to flood that pan with water to keep the arch working without burning the pan. I was able to finish about 2.5 gallons of syrup this year using this method. I used 5 full size pans and 2 1/2 size pans (lengthwise) for my concrete block arch. Once I got it setup right (draft), it worked pretty well.

Some of my helpers didn't want to pull the pans (burning themselves was a concern) so they just scooped out as much as they could and then flooded it. I used welding gloves to grab the hot pans and a thin piece of metal to get the edge up for grabbing.

As the syrup was finishing, I made sure the fire was dying down (didn't figure this out every time I boiled) and the just pulled that pan and poured into a pot from the kitchen (early method) or into some filters (better method). You can ladle some of the syrup out but it needs to get off the fire quick so the grab and pour method is the fastest. I think the welding gloves are less than $15 at Tractor Supply, Harbor Freight, Rural King, or any of the box hardware stores.

Hope that helps.

--andrew

[happy thoughts]

On 2 pans I make one pan the sweet pan then ladle into it from the other pan during boiling (siphoning would be easier - maybe next year :)). After a while you should be able to judge what needs to be left in any pan and when to let the fire die down. Once the pans cool I combine them and use this for the sweet pan at my next boil. You could cover the pans if critters aren't a problem in your area. I had some extensive damage this spring from a bear that went after a hummingbird feeder on my front porch. Can't imagine what they'd do for maple syrup :o

Good luck and have fun! :)

[Kyle M]

Thanks guys, thought of the laddle was just hopping there was a quicker way