Leader Revolution Pans

[chuck]

I was at Leader's Open House last weekend and looked at the combination of the Max Flue pans with the Revolution syrup pan. Looked pretty neat. Anyone have any experience or knowledge of these front pans? Thanks in advance.


Chuck

[lew]

Just bought a 5x6 revolution front pan for this past season. Made 1175 gallons and never took the pan off the arch, just kept reversing. Cleaned it up after season and looks like new. I like it so far. Never did get the hang of reversing it without making a huge draw off of 10-15 gallons. I'll figure that out next year maybe.

[stewardsdairy]

Made about 500 gallons on a 3x3. I did clean it twice during season. Can reverse mid boil easily and was very happy with it.

[lew]

Stewardsdairy,

What was your procedure to reverse your flow? I always drew off a huge batch after I reversed, like 10+ gallons.

[stewardsdairy]

After a draw I would draw off about 3 or four gallons and pour back to other side to lift gradient. I only have a 3x3 syrup pan but I would still get some large draws.

[TheMapleMoose]

After a draw I would draw off about 3 or four gallons and pour back to other side to lift gradient. I only have a 3x3 syrup pan but I would still get some large draws.

I'm pretty sure that's Brads procedure in the boiling 101 manual. That's how we do it on our patriot style pan. Looking forward to an upgrade to the revolution next season.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Lew,

What % do you normally boil and how long do you go before switching sides? We currently have a 5' by 5' King front pan and can go about 5 hours on 8%. I was also looking at the Revolution on display at Leader and it seems very attractive. Does it come to syrup in the middle first after a switch? Ours will, even when we carry 4 gallons of sweet over -- it's not an issue as we look for it, and much preferable in my mind to switching out a pan.

Thanks,

Brian

[DrTimPerkins]

After a draw I would draw off about 3 or four gallons and pour back to other side to lift gradient. I only have a 3x3 syrup pan but I would still get some large draws.

We have an oil-fired 3' x 10' Leader Max with Revolution frontpans and a Steam-Away. We boil about 10-12% concentrate. When it is time to switch sides (about every 1.5-2.5 hrs depending upon how fast the niter is forming), we will draw off a couple of gallons and pour them into the drawoff partition that we will be starting to draw syrup from in order to hasten the formation of the correct gradient at that end. Then we'll lower the drawoff temperature setting on the automatic drawoff by a 1-1.2 degrees F or so, then ramp it up by 0.3-0.4 degrees F after each draw (or during a draw if it looks to be turning into a really big drawoff) until we're back to the set-point temperature we want it at. Works the majority of the time, but occasionally we'll still end up with a big drawoff. Always a good idea to keep a bucket of water (or sap) really close by during the changeover (or all the time) to forestall any impending disaster.

Very low niter this season in our operation.

[lew]

Sunday ROck,

I run12-15% and change sides when the niter dictates. This year the niter din't seem to stick to the pans that much. We would run60-100 gallons before switching sides. And yes, it does make syrup in the middle first. But, like you said, we look for it and deal with it. I should mention that this year we switched sides almost entirely on the following days boil. I couldn't bring myself to switch sides when we only had a half an hours boil left. That may be why we made syrup in the middle all the time before getting gradient readjusted. Love the pan, just have to learn how to work it yet.

[sapmaple]

I run 12% into the steam-Away we switch every 80 gals or as needed. What I do is shut the flow off from the flue pan and then pump from tray with syrup (with filter press pump bypass) to the tray I'm switching to until the temp drops a couple of degree's (this may be several gallons) then open flue pan valve and we're in business No syrup made in the middle as long as I pump enough over.