pushing last of sap through evaporator question

[NHguy]

This is my first year boiling on a 2x4 arch, with a flat 3 section divided rear pan, and a flat 3 section divided front finishing pan.

I boiled off 60 gallons of sap to get to syrup, and have a good gradient established in my front pan. Am anticipating drawing off syrup frequently now in small batches as I add sap from here on out.

I have about 35 gallons of sap that I am planning on boiling ( and hoping we get a freeze tomorrow night so that the season isnt over!)

My question is: once I am all out of sap, what is the best way to push the last of it, and all my sweet through my pans?

Do I add water starting from my preheater pan? ? will that move the sap through the channels to a certain point so that I can maintain my gradient and keep drawing off syrup?

Or do I just draw off all the stuff in all 3 channels of my front pan and finish it on the stove?

Thanks so much in advance, I have learned so much here from all of you!

Jim

[psparr]

You can use water and it will push the syrup. Do you have a valve between the pans? If so, for your last boil you can drain the pans, put all that in the front pan, and flood the rear pan with water.

[NHguy]

You can use water and it will push the syrup. Do you have a valve between the pans? If so, for your last boil you can drain the pans, put all that in the front pan, and flood the rear pan with water.

thanks- there is a valve on a connection between the front and rear pans. I close it when done boiling to keep the gradient in front pan from back-flowing into the sap pan.

Are you saying that when I'm out of sap i should: take all of the weakly concentrated sap in the rear pan and add it to the darker , more concentrated front pan with the near syrup - then fill the rear pan with all water, open the valve between pans and boil away?

[lpakiz]

I do basically the same. I carefully take the level of the whole system as low as I dare with wood. Then shut down, drain the back pan into containers, fill the head tank with water and start boiling. I use a propane weed burner torch from here on out.
I add the containers to the front pan as needed to maintain level. At the very end, I'll draw a little out of the last channel a couple times and add it to the weaker channel, to force the whole front pan to become syrup. I never use a separate finishing system. Finish right on the 2 X 10 rig. Gotta be careful here.

[Big_Eddy]

Are you saying that when I'm out of sap i should: take all of the weakly concentrated sap in the rear pan and add it to the darker , more concentrated front pan with the near syrup - then fill the rear pan with all water, open the valve between pans and boil away?

Not exactly

Boil down until you just have enough sap to last until the fire cools off, then close the valve and let the fire go out.
Once it has cooled enough, drain or siphon all the weak sap from the back pan into a stainless pail, then refill the back pan with water. DO NOT OPEN the valve again. If you have a head tank and float box, fill that with water to feed the back pan only.

Relight the fire.

Gradually add the partially evaporated sap from your stainless pail to the front pan. Instead of trying for a continuous flow, add the sap where-ever the syrup is thickest to keep the front pan density uniform. When you get down to your last gallon or two, let the fire go back out, then drain off and finish as needed using your usual process. If you judge it right, you can finish right in the pan. If you run out of sap too soon, you will need to take it the final bit to syrup elsewhere.

If you don't have a float box - don't get distracted while babying your front pan and forget to add more water to the back pan as it evaporates :o

[NHguy]

Not exactly

Boil down until you just have enough sap to last until the fire cools off, then close the valve and let the fire go out.
Once it has cooled enough, drain or siphon all the weak sap from the back pan into a stainless pail, then refill the back pan with water. DO NOT OPEN the valve again. If you have a head tank and float box, fill that with water to feed the back pan only.

Relight the fire.

Gradually add the partially evaporated sap from your stainless pail to the front pan. Instead of trying for a continuous flow, add the sap where-ever the syrup is thickest to keep the front pan density uniform. When you get down to your last gallon or two, let the fire go back out, then drain off and finish as needed using your usual process. If you judge it right, you can finish right in the pan. If you run out of sap too soon, you will need to take it the final bit to syrup elsewhere.

If you don't have a float box - don't get distracted while babying your front pan and forget to add more water to the back pan as it evaporates :o

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation ( im new at this and mostly learning by trial and error, except for what you good folks have shared!) that is a huge help.

Im finishing boiling off 30 gallons right now, I am planning on leaving my gradient intact and covering for now. HOPING for a freeze tonight as predicted, and maybe some more sap after that. If not - I am in good shape to push the rest of my "nearly syrup" through and not lose it, Thank you oh Yoda of syrup making!!!!!!

( im such a small scale sugarer that losing potential syrup from my pan pains me- thanks again!)

If I get no more sap, I'll probably be about 3 gallons this year! after making only 3/4 of a gallon last year

[185]

I have a similar question. First time, brand new newbie. I recently bought a hobby evaporator (older CDL) that has a 18" x48" flat pan with three chambers. I cant seem to find a Manuel for it. My question or questions is 1. When I initially start do I start with 2" of sap then start the firebox and bring to boil, 2. How do I end the boil when sap is almost depleted ? Thanks

[Dennis H.]

For the last boil of the season I will try to plan that I am done with enough liquid in the pans so that as the evap cools down it continues to steam off, but not hot enough to hurt the pans in anyway if the level should drop to expose any of the top of the flues.

Once it is cool, I drain the flue pan. I fill the flue pan with water and some milk stone remover and then also fill the head tank. Fire up the evap and ladle in the sap/syrup that I removed from the flue pan into the float box of the syrup pan. I try to not just dump it into the float box, I try to get normal draw off's.
Once cooled down I drain the syrup pan and will finish it on the stove, This is about 1 gal of liquid.


Take all this info and try to figure out what works best for you, it seems that there are as many ways of doing this as there are people who do it. Good Luck.

[Big_Eddy]

I have a similar question. First time, brand new newbie. I recently bought a hobby evaporator (older CDL) that has a 18" x48" flat pan with three chambers. I cant seem to find a Manuel for it. My question or questions is 1. When I initially start do I start with 2" of sap then start the firebox and bring to boil, 2. How do I end the boil when sap is almost depleted ? Thanks

185. Start a new thread with the same question and we'll respond. Better a new thread for future searchers.

[Sugarmaker]

I finished last night pushing the syrup through with water. The last syrup that you take off may not taste as good. I check the sugar content in the partitions and it was down to about 10%. Couldn't get the syrup to 212, and knew I was done.
If you want the best tasting final syrup, take it off and boil it on the stove.
Regards,
Chris.