Adding draw off valve to steam pan?

[patchfarm]

First post here. Last season we tapped about 15 trees and boiled down sloooowwwwly on our wood stove in the house, and finished on the gas stove in the kitchen. Worked okay but obviously not efficient. This year we're hoping to do something like 30-50 taps, and boil most of it at least outside, probably in a cinder block arch. I'd love to buy an actual pan, with continuous flow, but I foresee in 2019 buying a small 2x4 evaporator, and it just doesn't make sense to me to sink money into anything this season if we end up doing that in the near future. So I plan to do blocks and stainless steam pans (3 or 4).

Is there any way to add a valve to the final steam pan so I can draw off? I only have access and knowledge of soldering, so in my mind maybe drilling a hole in the side of the pan, and then soldering a valve in.

The other ($$) option is buying a smaller flat pan that already has a draw off. Less money than sinking cash into a larger divided pan, but still spendy. And then just use a series of steam pans to boil and then finish in that front pan.

Thoughts?

[Haynes Forest Products]

You can solder in a SS threaded coupler. Make sure its lead free solder and you clean the heck out of the area before and after. Get it low in the corner.

Before you do to much finishing of your syrup in your home kitchen. Read up on how to repaint your kitchen in 3 easy steps because with more sap you will be honing your handyman skills.

[mol1jb]

I have used steam pans for boiling for 3 years before my 2x6 this season. The hard part is not putting in a fitting to the pan. In most setups of steam pan sap boilers the steam pans sit in the arch as opposed to on top of the arch. Thus any fitting added to the bottom side of a steam pan will also be in the arch and runs the risk of burning the sweet/syrup that sits in the draw off. A regular sap/syrup pan sits on top of the arch and the draw off is not exposed to any direct heat.

Here is my advise. If you plan to get a 2x4 arch/evaporator next year it would be a great time to get a 2x4 pan this year. I got my used 2x6 pans from Bascom and they have a huge variety of 2x4 or close size pans. You could put together a block arch for it to sit on this year and next year build a proper arch. It may be more of an investment than you want to make but it would be a good investment to make if you plan to use it in future years.

[Bernie/MA]

Check with McMaster-Carr for bulkhead fittings.