pan dividers

[beaglebriar]

Hello. New guy here with a couple questions. I am building a small evaporator w/ 2'x3' stainless pan 8" deep. I put dividers in the pan to make 3 sections. (Basically a half pint knock off) The dividers are only tack welded in right now. Will I be able to get the proper gradient this way or should I weld them complete? I'm okay with it not working perfectly but will it work? Stainless is not something I can do at home so its kind of a pain to get the welding done. Also I will be boiling in my shed 12x14. Is a steam hood necessary? If I don't use a hood will it make everything sticky? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[psparr]

You will be able to establish a gradient with just the tac weld. As long as your feeding evenly and defoaming at the feed end regularly.

As far as the shed, how bigs the door. Is It a nice shed? Or a beater. I'm sure it's not the best situation, but it will work.

[beaglebriar]

You will be able to establish a gradient with just the tac weld. As long as your feeding evenly and defoaming at the feed end regularly.

As far as the shed, how bigs the door. Is It a nice shed? Or a beater. I'm sure it's not the best situation, but it will work.

Its a decent shed with an overhead door. I am considering installing it permanently in the rear corner of the shed but for this year I think I'm just going to set it up in front of the doorway. What doyou use for defoaming? Thanks for your help

[sugar ED]

Its a decent shed with an overhead door. I am considering installing it permanently in the rear corner of the shed but for this year I think I'm just going to set it up in front of the doorway. What doyou use for defoaming? Thanks for your help


U can buy it at a maple supply place ,or use a few drops of organic canola oil ,when needed .

[VermontAltitude]

For defoaming, you can purchase a special defoamer, I've heard of people using vegetable oil or butter and in the old days they hung a piece of meat over the evaporator and when it raised to the meat, it would go down. Hahaha


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[Big_Eddy]

Hello. New guy here with a couple questions. I am building a small evaporator w/ 2'x3' stainless pan 8" deep. I put dividers in the pan to make 3 sections. (Basically a half pint knock off) The dividers are only tack welded in right now. Will I be able to get the proper gradient this way or should I weld them complete? I'm okay with it not working perfectly but will it work? Stainless is not something I can do at home so its kind of a pain to get the welding done. Also I will be boiling in my shed 12x14. Is a steam hood necessary? If I don't use a hood will it make everything sticky? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Tack welded will be fine as long as there is a reasonably good fit along the edges. Over time sap will sneak in there and then the water will evaporate, sealing the crack with dried sugar.

Syrup steam is not sticky. The steam contains no sugar and won't get your shed walls or roof sticky. The only things that get sticky are the evaporator, any spills, and your fingers. You will need good ventilation though, or you'll soon be working in a haze. And even with good ventilation, everything in the shed will get damp.

[TerryEspo]

I play around sometimes when batch boiling by just placing a stainless divider in my flat pan and it divides the sap, just sitting in place, not even tacked. I place that piece of stainless near the back of the pan sometimes when adding cold sap, it really does make a difference.

Tacked in place should be more than fine for you.

Good luck.

Terry

[beaglebriar]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll probably go with the canola for defoamer. I want to keep things as organic as possible. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions. I'm still building my arch and will post pics when complete. So far I have the pan built and half of the arch for exactly zero dollars. Its no show piece but I think throwing a bunch of money at it will take the fun out of it.