Batch Boil Cleanup after 1st Boil

[pyro]

I'm doing my first batch boil this weekend. I have a 2'x3' homemade evap pan on concrete blocks. I do not have enough SAP as originally anticipated and I went a little overboard on the pan dimensions! I expect to only have about 20 gallons which is about 5.3" in the pan :( Should be a quick boil - but that was the goal.

My question is related to cleanup of the evaporator pan in a batch boil system. I only boil once on the weekend and expect to for the next 2-3 weekends. Should I boil down to 1" and leave everything in the pan, or drain it out?

If I drain it, do I need to clean the inside pan, or leave the residue on there. Since it will still be about 20% water, should I re-add this next weekend? Upcoming temps are freezing at night and in 40s to 50s during the day. Overall similiar to fridge temps.

I keep reading about sweetening the pan, but I think this only applies to continuous systems. Not sure what to do in a batch boil on a large pan with minimal sap.

[happy thoughts]

I would definitely drain and refrigerate what you have left. IMHO a week is too long to sit in the pan. It is likely to spoil and/or become contaminated with enough yeast etc to eat your sugars. I use steam pans which are a little easier to clean. I clean the inside of the pan after each boil. Soaking in water overnight usually does the trick. The bottoms just need to be brushed to remove any flaked soot. In your case, after draining I'd flood the pan with water and let it sit long enough to dissolve whatever sugars are caked on the pan, give it a good scrubbing with a soft nylon scrubby or brush then rinse well.

You can add the drained stuff back into your next batch. A lot of niter will have probably settled out. I would try not to add that to your next batch.
I frequently add partial syrup into fresh sap when boiling. Syrup may be darker because of it but for my own purposes finishing off less than what will yield at least a gallon of syrup isn't worth the effort and mess.

[psparr]

It wont keep in the pan all week. Try to get it down as low as your comfortable. Drain it and keep the sweet in the fridge.
Just rinse the pan with a hose and put it back on the arch and cover it. Then next boil add the sweet near the end of the boil and bring it down low again and repeat. Just my two cents.

When I started, I was too impatient to wait till next boil and usually finished in the kitchen. Then filtered what I had and usually lost half my syrup in the filter.

[DaveB]

It wont keep in the pan all week. Try to get it down as low as your comfortable. Drain it and keep the sweet in the fridge.
Just rinse the pan with a hose and put it back on the arch and cover it. Then next boil add the sweet near the end of the boil and bring it down low again and repeat. Just my two cents.

When I started, I was too impatient to wait till next boil and usually finished in the kitchen. Then filtered what I had and usually lost half my syrup in the filter.

If you wet the filter with hot water, you shouldn't lose that much. I remember forgetting that step and a lot of syrup would get lost in the filter.

[psparr]

If you wet the filter with hot water, you shouldn't lose that much. I remember forgetting that step and a lot of syrup would get lost in the filter.

I now put my filter in the freezer until I boil next and rinse it in the pan.

[pyro]

I thought I had read that the higher the concentration of sugar, the longer you can leave it out. But its fairly easy to drain it and bring it in. I plan to hit it with a small electric power washer and see how that cleans it up.

I'm going to use multiple layers of cheescloth for filtering. Both into the pan and then when draining out of the pan. I have a 3/4" spigot on the pan, so I hope its easy and efficient to filter.

[maplerookie]

Pyro: do yourself a favor and get a real maple filter and the pre filters . it is well worth the investment. it gets all the niter out as well as all the soot that seems to be inevitable in back yard hobby sugaring. . cheesecloth will not get the niter. it is great for prefiltering your sap before boil though , . The pre filters can be used over and over and the felt or synthetic filter if properly rinsed will last a good long time. I have the synthetic and a wool one. they are great. make sure you use them with a pre filter though. rinse in hot water before you filter. filter hot all will be well and you loose very little syrup to the filter. stop by one of the other guys around your area. check out how much stuff comes out of the boil as you filter it.

[pyro]

First boil today! I had some issues starting up. So a few more questions based on my initial attempt.

1. Is it better to pour just a little sap in to start the boil, or just fill it up right from the start. I filled it up 2/3 of the way and it took near forever to get going.

2. Starting the fire got a lot of ash in the pan when the wood was getting going. I'm concerned if its going to taste smokey. I'm thinking I should either start the fire before putting sap in (either with no pan, or a pan filled with water). Or place sap in and cover with tin foil until the ash/smoke goes away. I think the tin foil idea should work great.

3. I don't have any kind of grate so I'm just making a fire right on the ground (well actually ledge/rock). How important is that grate? Does anyone not use one? I doubt I'll purchase one since they're pricey, so I'll just have to live with it.

I need to dry out my wood which was waaay to wet. I'll grab some rocket fuel (aka pallets) for next week.

[Big_Eddy]

The idea of the grate is to get the fire off the ground so that more air can get to it. It's not going to prevent you boiling sap, but it might slow down your boil.

A grate can be as simple as a few rocks or bricks laid in the bottom with a gap between them to allow air to flow. Even a few big logs parallel spaced apart on the bottom with small wood piled criss cross above will improve the burn.
If you can get air under your burning wood, you will get a hotter fire.

No need to clean the pan between individual boils. Pour the concentrate off hot, and store your pan where dirt and dust can't get into it. The only thing on the inside of the pan is sugar residue. It will dissolve into the sap the next boil. Clean it when you see a serious build up, or if you scorch it.

If you're only starting with 20 gallons and reducing to 4-5, you will need to refrigerate or freeze if it will be a week until the next boil. You've not concentrated the sugar enough to prevent spoilage.

[psparr]

Only keep an inch or so in the pan at any time. Will boil off a bit faster.

You could throw a piece of plywood or anything really over the pan till your fires going good.

[pyro]

What I noticed at the end of the boil when I was letting the fire slowly die and the boil stopped, the steam was still pouring off. It seemed as if the evaporation rate increased even though the fire was dying. It thought maybe it was just more noticable as it got lower, but now realize the energy is more concentrated into a smaller volume.

I had a half concrete block where I just propped the 6" flue pipe against. It was the kind that had a protrusion on one side. I think maybe this half block actually restricted air flow slightly. I just purchased a large rectangle register vent adapter to 6" round. I hope this allows me to increase air flow up the flue. It will also allow me to put the rectangle vent up high close to the pan.

I'm not on level ground so its difficult for me to get the concrete blocks perfectly level. I see some people are using rope gasket for a seal. I'm going to try pouring a small 1" strip of sand on top and then place the pan. We'll see how that works.

Can't wait to start my next inferno!