Messy smokey pans

[Twin Chimneys Syrup]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and making syrup but I'm hooked on both! I have been reading and learning a ton! It's time to start asking questions. So here is the first of many many to come. I have a 55 gallon drum with a stove kit and 2 food warming pans. It's works pretty good, about 1.5 gal per hour on my first run and less than a gal on my second(wood issues). It works fine for me now the problem is the pans are a pain at the end of the boil. Smoke everywhere ash flying it was terrible the first time. I have a little cover now but it's a stretch with one person( beer is gone everyone leaves me haha). I am wondering if buying a better pan 2x2 flat pan with a drain port would be worth it to keep everything clean and easier to use, or suck it up this year and just do a real arch later. I have a lot of trees for expansion and plans to upgrade my shed to a part time sugar shack. Thanks for the help!

[psparr]

You've got room for expansion so I'd say build or buy a real arch. Maybe 2 2' pans. If you don't have enough sap to run both, you can just run water in one.

[DrTimPerkins]

Maybe use some pan gasket material to try to keep the ash from coming out around your pans.

https://www.bascommaple.com/item/apgas1/gasket/
Please note this is an example and not an endorsement of any particular maple supplier.

[Twin Chimneys Syrup]

Thanks for the input! The pans have a nice seal when they are set in the drum it's when i take them out to pour them into a pot finish the syrup.

[BAP]

How many taps are you boiling from?

[Twin Chimneys Syrup]

14 Buckets with probably 120 tapable trees on my property

[tbear]

I don't want to come off like a jerk, that's truly not the intent, but let me ask, is the fire still going when you remove the pan or pans? If so you might want to let the fire die down or go out to avoid the problems you listed. Ted

[Twin Chimneys Syrup]

No worries it's a reasonable question yeah i did let it die down probably not enough I'll admit but I was running out of time. As soon as I pulled the pan off I got a back draft enough to blow ash and smoke inside. The reality is I'm still in the learning curve of using that setup and it is getting smoother. I guess I should have asked would be worth it to get a flat pan with drain ports and fit it with the setup I have or use it the way it is and upgrade later. I don't want to waste a pile of money buying a 250$ pan to just turn around and change it again.

[tbear]

If you go with a new pan with draw off valve, make sure your rig is cooled down BEFORE you empty it. Doing otherwise is a good way to scorch your pan. Don't ask how I know that. If it were me I'd wait till next year for the new gear. That's just me. You can and should order early for next season to avoid missing out because of waiting lists. If you are going to build your own you'll have more time after this season. Think to the future expansion and order/build appropriatly, if not bigger. Have fun! Ted

[mspina14]

I also built a barrel stove and started with steam pans.

Partly because of the reasons you cite in your OP, I had a custom flat pan built. See below:

16153 16154

The custom pan cost me about $240 I think. I only used it for a year and bought a 2X4 evaporator the next year.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably not have a custom pan made and should have just stuck with the steam pans. I did sell the barrel stove and pan, but didn't get anywhere near my money back. Would have been better to put the $240 into a new evaporator and/or sugar shack expense.

Just my 2 cents.

Mark

[Twin Chimneys Syrup]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'm just going to stick with this until I can get a permanent setup for an arch that I can expand with. I don't have enough to do any upgrades this year anyway. The wife is being real understanding I don't want to push it!

[CaptT820]

I have gone through this same transition that you have. Started with barrel evaporator last year and was getting a max of 2.5gph with 40 taps. Upgraded to a block arch this year and can get as high as 8gph with 80 taps (4 steam pans). The block arch is removable and relatively inexpensive. I lined the inside of the arch with fire brick, but did not mortar the bricks (I welded an internal frame to hold the bricks in the firebox area), so that I could reuse the bricks in the future for a steel evaporator. Gasketing the pans with a proper fiber blanket is key to low ash, as well as letting the fire die down to coals only.

I added a blower to the block arch under the door and this cut down on the amount of ash and coals I had at the end of each burn run by about 80 percent.