Small time boiler

[Millsy]

So the kids and I have tried tapping for the first time this year and had fun making syrup. We had 20 taps and made 25L of syrup. We could have made more but quit because I was tired of boiling on turkey fryers. We are going to make an arch for next year and wanted opinions on going with a 2'x4' continuous flow pan or traditional flat pan. The goal for next year is 50 taps and over the next couple of years possibly hitting 100 max. If we had a continuous flow pan can you still batch boil if you had a smaller amount of sap?
Thanks John

[psparr]

Yes you can batch boil on a continuous flow pan. How often can you boil? Every day? Every weekend? Continuous flow would be nice if you can boil regularly.

[bigschuss]

So the kids and I have tried tapping for the first time this year and had fun making syrup. We had 20 taps and made 25L of syrup. We could have made more but quit because I was tired of boiling on turkey fryers. We are going to make an arch for next year and wanted opinions on going with a 2'x4' continuous flow pan or traditional flat pan. The goal for next year is 50 taps and over the next couple of years possibly hitting 100 max. If we had a continuous flow pan can you still batch boil if you had a smaller amount of sap?
Thanks John

You can batch boil if you want to on a continuous flow pan. I also have 50 taps....boil with a Mason 2x4 continuous flow. When the sap is flowing good it's great to have the continuous flow ability. When things slow down or if you have intermittent flow you can batch boil. I find that if I start with 50 gallons of sap I can batch boil down to about 3 gallons of pre-syrup in the pan (have to be REAL careful) and then drain and finish on a fryer. If I thought I would never have more than 50 taps I would consider downsizing to the 2x3 Mason for just this reason...the ability to do continuous flow with less sap and the ability to do a batch boil with less finishing afterwards.

[Millsy]

Thanks fellas that is kind of what I thought. I work 8-5 Monday to Friday. We can boil any evening and all weekend.

[Millsy]

How important is it to have the reverse flow feature? How much sap would you have to put through the pan to have an issue and need to reverse it?

[psparr]

You need a lot more than what you got.