When do I have to clean my pan?

[devils11217]

When do I have to clean my pan. My smoky lake hobby drop flue has sugar sand in the flue pan? When is it too much?

[PerryW]

I clean my pans at the end of the season only, but i reverse the flow on each boil. If I end up making a lot of syrup, I will drain the front pan and clean it once mid-season.

[1arch]

When do I have to clean my pan. My smoky lake hobby drop flue has sugar sand in the flue pan? When is it too much?
I clean the syrup pan each boil. The flue pan gets cleaned only at the end of the season unless there is and extended period of time (about 4+days depending on ambient sugar house temperatures) between cooks that might allow the sweet to spoil.

[Helicopter Seeds]

Using steam tray pans, and the outsides got nice and sooty, but that only matters for handling. I got some char marks on the first boil - I scrubbed with water and a copper chore boy to remove anything loose. Used it again, certainly created a few more carmelized flakes at the top, but they came out with first filter through cheese cloth before finish boil in a pot. Syrup is beautiful. Now I wonder if I should even bother with the scrub for next boil. Time I really don't need to waste.

[Run Forest Run!]

Whenever I get a break in between boiling batches I wash up my steam trays. When the sap is flowing hard, I'll usually do three or four boilings before I get some time to let the pans soak in hot water before their scrubbing.

[buckeye gold]

I do a drain and clean once about mid season and that's it. What I do to manage sand is just look in my pans when they are cold and if I see a build up I take a piece of 5/16 tubing I keep in the shack and siphon the sand off the bottom of the pan into a prefilter in a bucket and put the concentrate right back. Nitre usually builds up and settles in the corners when she cools. I do the same thing in the flue channels. I drain and wash mid season just to get the crusted stuff off at the boil line. I've done it this way for years and haven't seen any problems. I run a smokey Lake hybrid full pint. I also done this on my old flat pan.

[halladaymaple]

If you have time clean the front pan every boil it will save you a lot of elbow grease and beside when you have sugar sand in the front pan it changes the boiling reaction. It may cost you a burnt pan if your not careful. The best approach is to have a spare front pan you can swap out and continue boiling.