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Hairyjoe123
11-20-2013, 11:53 AM
Hi,

A buddy and I are building our first arch. The arch itself is coming along just nicely but when we got to the pans are few questions arose. DO we want to flue, flat pan? What depth should our evap and syrup pans be? Do our pans need pitch on their bottoms? Do we need a float or can we eyeball level? Permanent or removable pans? We managed to solve many of the issues surrounding pan development but are stuck with one question, do we need to have a pitch on the bottom of the pans so that the syrup can find its way to the transfer and dump valves?

We are building a 2'x5' arch from two and one half steel 55 gallon drums from the information here on maple trader and various online videos. We decided on flat, 12" deep, removable pans and no float. Being that this coming syrup season will also be our first we decided to go as simple as possible while still going all out. That is why we went with no flue and removable pans and transfer/dump valves. This will be an indoor operation as we have an available shack that only needs a new stack.


So the question is, Bottom pitch or no? I say yes but he says maybe. Its hard to tell if the bottom of pans are level or pitched from videos. Anything anyone can say will help.

Thanks.

Joe

Super Sapper
11-20-2013, 12:16 PM
The pan should be as level as possible. Are you using dividers or just one big batch? If you are using dividers and add at one end the sweet will gravitate towards the draw off. If you are just using the pan without dividers everything will mix on it's own.

Hairyjoe123
11-20-2013, 12:20 PM
We have two pans. The syrup pan and the evaporator pan. Keeping everything real level sounds good to me.

kiteflyingeek
11-20-2013, 07:09 PM
As Super Sapper said, you want the bottom of the pan flat and then make sure it is level once you install it on the arch. Good luck!

--andrew