New mason 2x4 mason xl

[mitten mapler]

Looking for advice and tips using this evaporator. We have also have invested in a auto draw off system. Our plan is to draw off at about 218 and finish on a propane burner. This will be are third year making syrup the previous years were with steam pans over a cinder block arch. Any tips or suggestions anyone can pass along would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

Congratulations on the new Mason 2x4 XL. I'm in the same boat as you with a new Mason myself. I also used a concrete arch with steam table pans last year. If I come up with any tips or tricks I will be happy to share them with you. What auto draw off did you get, I have been looking at a Smoky Lake, just not sure if its in the budget this year with the new evaporator and sugar shack....

[Noah's Ark]

This is my third year on a 2x4 xl. The preheater is not the best. I have built a system that is a copper manifold and goes over the pan, cant find the thread right now but start searching for DIY preheaters and see what others have done. This helped quite a bit. Also fire often and use small dry wood, nothing bigger than your wrist is best. If everything is going well I can average about 14 gallons an hour. Big change from the 55 gallon drum evaporator I had to start. Run the pan just over the temp probes and you will get a better boil. Good luck this year. If you have any more questions let me know.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Our plan is to draw off at about 218 and finish on a propane burner.

On a Mason 2x4 you can avoid drawing off light. I use auto draw off with this rig and I am either right at density or more often slightly over-dense. It's really a lot easier to add some distilled water to get it to the right density. Experiment with your draw off to get the right setting. It will change each day with the weather too.

My other recommendation is to work yourself into being comfortable with running no more than 1" deep with sap to get the best boil. When I am firing properly and often, 12 GPH is normal. I run the blower at medium high speed to achieve this. You will see a nice gradient in the pan pretty quickly too.

Congrats on the new rig. I think you will like it.

[mitten mapler]

Jolly farms I bought the smoky lake draw off we didn't want to take a chance of ruining our pan the first year we used it hopefully it will make just easier and we can concentrate on keeping the boil consistent. Flower city maple looked at your Facebook pictures kinda copying your setup. Thanks for sharing the info