boiling higher concentrate this year... need tips

[bison1973]

Hi i was wondering if anyone could fill me in on what different things I might need to know for boiling 16% and up concentrate/

Prior tot his year i was at 8% a the most so everything just seemed to go as normal with that. But what do I need to look out for with higher concentrate?

is start up any different with a evap full of cold 16% or more? Depth of pans any different? Can you make syrup in the flue pan if you do something wrong? Anything needed to know is helpful. I don't want to mess anything up.

Thanks!

[maplefarmer]

when it turns to syrup, it will be at the draw off, and will continue pulling sap into the flue pan and pushing the richer concentrate ahead of it. if you don't pull finished syrup off and let it get over done, I suppose it might start turning to syrup in the flue pan

[maple flats]

While I only boiled over 15% once (18%), I saw little difference except it got to the draw off quicker. I quit the 18% because my RO didn't like going over 14-15%. I now boil most in the 14-15% range.

[ennismaple]

Tim - We're in the same boat as you this year. With a 2nd membrane we expect to be in the low teens for our concentrate %. I was given a tip by my equipment supplier to run about 150 gallons of permeate through the evaporator after I'm done boiling concentrate to push more of the sweet through and reduce how much the syrup darkens in the pans between boils. This also makes sure the pre-heater gets flushed out.

We had a few days last year we re-circulated back into the raw sap tank for a few hours and were probably boiling better than 12% concentrate for a while before incoming sap diluted the tank. The only difference I found was the syrup rank off more frequently and I was spending more time filtering. A good problem to have!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Starting drawing slowly at 6 and increase drawoff as temps go above 7.

[Russell Lampron]

At start up things are about the same but can get out of control if you don't draw off soon enough. I watch the syrup bubbles in the middle of the pan and start the first draw regardless of the temp at the draw off. It is usually around 5 or 217.

If you boil at 16% or higher all of the time the sap in your flue pan will darken and you will have darker syrup at the draw off as a result of this. I made and installed a bubbler for my evaporator to keep the niter stirred up and make lighter syrup.

Boiling high concentrate is fun! I love drawing off 6 or 7 gallons of syrup in an hour with my 2x6 evaporator.