Need some urgent advice...

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

Well I have a Lapierre 24 x 60 set up and my big tank of ice has thawed. This is a new evaporator and basically my first kick at it. I have used a friends of mine before and it was a Dominion Grimm 18 x 60. My question is what is the average height (amount) of sap in the front and rear pans. My unit has a float adjustment for the front pan and rear so starting to boil in the morning and thought I would ask. I had that information somewhere before but lost it. Jack

[CampHamp]

Not sure if there is a standard level that people use, but I run about 1" over the flues and about 1 1/2" in my syrup pan. Since it's your first boil, you'd probably want to start deeper (like 2" in each) and bring up fire temps slowly to make sure everything is solid before cranking it up. The rear float will probably need to be adjusted towards the end of the boil as the sap in the head tank gets low (less pressure on the inlet).

[unc23win]

I think 1.5 -2" inches in the syrup pan is an excellent place to start being that the evaporator is new. You can go lower once you get some experience and make sure everything works right. Obviously the lower you go in the front the faster it boils, but a lot can go wrong quick. It also really helps the first time to draw some off the front @ 210-212 and dump it in the back as it will help push it through rather than staying at same temp for a long time.

[PerryW]

2 inches in front pan, 1" above the flues in the rear.

[Big_Eddy]

I'm with the others on depth.

First boil - things to watch.
Before you even light a match, make sure that sap can get to the pans. Test each float to make sure that it will open (and close) as needed. Set your 5 gal "Oh ****" pail beside you.

It'll take a bit of monkeying to get the floats set right - I'd start with them low, let sap flow in until they shut off, then raise the depth little by little until they shut off where you want them to. All this without a fire.

Once you light, keep the fire small initially and watch to see where it boils first. You expect the back syrup section to boil first, then the other 2, then the fronts of the flues. As soon as you get a boil going, check to see those floats are opening. I can usually get my whole rig boiling before the time for the second firing (15 mins)

Once you have the whole thing boiling and you know that sap is being replenished, try to get a handle on how much wood to add, and how often. I listen to the tempo of the boiling - I can hear it start to slow down as the wood is consumed and I'm often getting ready to add the next armload just before the timer sounds. Your first several hours will be sweetening the pans, so you have lots of time to get used to the boiling and firing before you have to worry about measuring density and temperature and taking off syrup. The objective is to keep the rig boiling smoothly and get into a routine for firing that suits your evaporator. A timer does help.

Have some defoamer (or canola oil) handy for the inevitable foaming.

I'm sure others will chime in with suggestions on how to tell when the front pan is getting close, and how to take off syrup.

Good luck and enjoy.

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

As usual I came to the right place. Send me in coach.......Jack

[DaveB]

...

Have some defoamer (or canola oil) handy for the inevitable foaming.

I'm sure others will chime in with suggestions on how to tell when the front pan is getting close, and how to take off syrup.

Good luck and enjoy.

I think you've been given some good advice and the only thing that I can add is that I like to add a few drops of defoamer every other firing to my flue pan and I never have to worry about it in my syrup pan.

In terms of drawing off, before I had the auto drawoff I would wait until the temperature is 220° and shut it off at 218°. I know others may do it differently, but I found that worked for me. Make sure you have a hydrometer ready to make sure you're at the right density! I would also draw off into a pre-wet cone filter with some prefilters. I like to dip the cone filter in the boiling sap and that makes the syrup go right through. I've never had a problem with filtering that way.

[ennismaple]

2 inches in front pan, 1" above the flues in the rear.

Agreed. That's how we run ours.

We add defoamer every 7 minutes. If we do that religiously we'll never get the flue or syrup pan boiling over.