Finishing in the syrup pan or not ??

[wmick]

Hi Folks... Wayne from Ontario here...
Started tapping last year with about 30 trees... Can't believe how much I'm hooked on this new hobby... I study the posts on here a lot and appreciate this resource and wide range of experience and ideas. Going to step it up to 60 or 70 this year. Last year was very crude boiling, Starting with pots on the wood-stove... added a turkey cooker and then added an electric range... Spent too many night-time hours after work, trying to keep up with this very slow process. I am in the process of building myself a better evaporator... Arch is almost done... (will try to remember to take a photo or two this weekend.) Its 2' x 6' (modeled after some of the popular commercial hobby units) ... .. Planning for a 4' drop flue and a 2' syrup pan.
-- One thing that has me a little confused, though... I hear a lot of folks "finishing" on a secondary propane burner or similar.. and then I also see lots seem to be "finishing" in the syrup pan...(some with auto-draw-offs, etc) Or, am I misinterpreting something ??? I want to be well prepared and avoid any major disasters.... Am I looking for trouble, thinking I can pull finished syrup from the evaporator and go straight to the filter?? Why would I choose one method over the other...
Thanks for your help.

Wayne

[wiam]

I like to finish on the evaporator because it is easier. Less pans to watch. Did it on my 2x6 with no problems. If you wait to have enough to bring to syrup in a finish pan you are probably mixing grades.

[Waynehere]

We always try to have it draw off a little on the dense side, then toss it in a finishing/bottling pan, bring it up to boiling and check for density. Way we look at it, it is easier to get the syrup a little heavy off the evaporator and then add a little sap back to it to get it just right before we bottle. If you draw it off too thin, then you have to use propane, usually, to boil it down to the right density. We don't like to bottle off the evaporator as we usually have too many other things going on.

[wnybassman]

We always try to have it draw off a little on the dense side, then toss it in a finishing/bottling pan, bring it up to boiling and check for density. Way we look at it, it is easier to get the syrup a little heavy off the evaporator and then add a little sap back to it to get it just right before we bottle. If you draw it off too thin, then you have to use propane, usually, to boil it down to the right density. We don't like to bottle off the evaporator as we usually have too many other things going on.

Same here. I found drawing it off a little heavy works out best for me.

[tcross]

i do the same. draw off the evaporator... err on the heavy side. I also filter directly off the evaporator. put it in a stainless pail and bottle it when time permits.

[motowbrowne]

I finish on the rig too, but I don't err on the heavy side. I draw off a little light, like 31 baume. I run it through a pre filter while it's hot then it cools in a stainless milk can. The syrup steams as it cools. Then it steams more when I reheat it for bottling. It even steams in the bottling tank. Honestly, I don't like adding sap to my finished syrup. I'll do it if I have to, but to me it seems like a place where off flavored can be introduced, especially when bottling towards the end of the season when the sap isn't that beautiful early season stuff. I'd much prefer to add distilled water or condensate to the syrup if it's too dense, but I find if I take it off light and proceed as normal, that I'm rarely waiting to bottle for more than a couple minutes when reheating syrup.

[Russell Lampron]

I finish in the evaporator and draw off a little heavy as well. I draw off into a finisher that I also flush my filter press into so it needs to be thickened anyway. It is usually a little heavy when it's time to correct the density so I draw more sweet out of the front pan to thin it down.

[wnybassman]

so I draw more sweet out of the front pan to thin it down.

That's exactly what I do instead of sap. It's already been boiled and is already close to syrup. Plus it allows me to bottle just a little more syrup at that time.

[Person25]

I run a 2x3 mason, still new to the continuous flow evaporator and drawing off. From what I see everyone does it a bit different. My typical draw is about a quart at a time, finished syrup. My question is do most like to just collect in a pail and store for filtering and bottling later on a finisher or stovetop? This is how I do it now became of how small I am, though it means I'm mixing grades right? Does anyone filter and bottle right off the pan? If so, how is it setup? And will I see grades change of finished syrup through out the length of a run if keep each draw separate ?

[wnybassman]

I run a 2x3 mason, still new to the continuous flow evaporator and drawing off. From what I see everyone does it a bit different. My typical draw is about a quart at a time, finished syrup. My question is do most like to just collect in a pail and store for filtering and bottling later on a finisher or stovetop? This is how I do it now became of how small I am, though it means I'm mixing grades right? Does anyone filter and bottle right off the pan? If so, how is it setup? And will I see grades change of finished syrup through out the length of a run if keep each draw separate ?

I keep everything I draw off in three large stock pots, then finish those to correct density all at once to then filter and bottle. Usually when things are going good I only have to hold those pots in a cold place for a few days, up to a week. I usually get about half gallon draws.

[Big_Eddy]

Wayne - Finishing strategy depends on the size of your operation and the process for filtering and bottling. With under 100 trees, you're not likely to be able to finish and filter directly off the evaporator with any consistency. Because safe bottling requires hot packing and reheating causes more nitre, then with less than 100 trees, filtering and bottling is typically done as a batch process after boiling. My process mirrors that of the similar sized producers above.

I run 150-200 trees with a 20x64 evap. I boil off ~20 gals/hr and draw off 2litres/hr. My process is to draw off every 30-60 mins (1-2l at a time) into a 20l stainless pail under the spout. I draw off when my front pan hits about 68 Brix using my hydrotherm, and keep drawing until I drop to about 66 Brix.
That pail stays under the spout until it's full or I'm out of sap. At the end of the day, I pour the syrup off into a different 20l pot, leaving any settled sludge behind.

If I still have daylight, I finish and bottle then. Otherwise I set the pot aside until morning. To finish, I put the pot on my propane burner and bring the pot up to just under a boil with my hydrotherm floating in it. I adjust the density by adding a little extra sap or almost syrup until it's thinned down to my target 66.8 Brix. When the density is exactly where I want it, I quickly bring it up to a full boil for a few minutes, then pour the full pot (16-20l) into my filter canner for bottling.

For me - a day of boiling produces 15-20 l of syrup which is then density corrected, filtered and bottled as a single batch. I lot code and grade the entire batch with the date bottled.

[marlmucker]

This questions may be difficult to answer, but approximately how much sap or concentrate are you adding to your finished syrup to bring the level back down. Ball park, are we talking a cup full, a litre, just curious.


Wayne - Finishing strategy depends on the size of your operation and the process for filtering and bottling. With under 100 trees, you're not likely to be able to finish and filter directly off the evaporator with any consistency. Because safe bottling requires hot packing and reheating causes more nitre, then with less than 100 trees, filtering and bottling is typically done as a batch process after boiling. My process mirrors that of the similar sized producers above.

I run 150-200 trees with a 20x64 evap. I boil off ~20 gals/hr and draw off 2litres/hr. My process is to draw off every 30-60 mins (1-2l at a time) into a 20l stainless pail under the spout. I draw off when my front pan hits about 68 Brix using my hydrotherm, and keep drawing until I drop to about 66 Brix.
That pail stays under the spout until it's full or I'm out of sap. At the end of the day, I pour the syrup off into a different 20l pot, leaving any settled sludge behind.

If I still have daylight, I finish and bottle then. Otherwise I set the pot aside until morning. To finish, I put the pot on my propane burner and bring the pot up to just under a boil with my hydrotherm floating in it. I adjust the density by adding a little extra sap or almost syrup until it's thinned down to my target 66.8 Brix. When the density is exactly where I want it, I quickly bring it up to a full boil for a few minutes, then pour the full pot (16-20l) into my filter canner for bottling.

For me - a day of boiling produces 15-20 l of syrup which is then density corrected, filtered and bottled as a single batch. I lot code and grade the entire batch with the date bottled.

[Big_Eddy]

Marlmucker
It depends on how much syrup is in your batch and how over density you are. There's a table in the North American Maple guide that you can use.

For 16l of syrup (4gals) 1 cup of water or sap will drop the Brix by 0.75. 2 cups by 1.5.

Unless I'm really dense, I usually add 1 cup, stir well, recheck and repeat if needed.

[maple flats]

Finish in the syrup pan, using auto draw.

[BoarsNest]

In my original 2 x 5 "custom" evaporator I would finish on propane. My syrup pan wasn't quite right to really make syrup on the evaporator. My 2 x 8 leader with max flu pan work great and I pull it off a little heavy too and correct density when we bottle.

[Waynehere]

I forgot to mention that we filter right off the evaporator, and then after we reheat to bring it to the right density, we filter it again before bottling.