How long to sweeten the pans?

[KJamesJR]

Typically how long does it take you guys with smaller continuous flow operations to sweeten your pans? I’ve put about 30 gallons of sap through and haven’t hit syrup yet.

I seem to be averaging about 3.5gph.

I have a smaller divided pan, 16”x40” on a block arch that’s air tight. No smoke coming out anywhere, no cracks... I don’t seem to be getting a good boil throughout the entire pan either. Usually right in the center divider it’s the most vicious. Almost no boil at the back of the pan. The pan is level and a gradient is forming.

I’m using a steam pan preheater sitting in the back of the main pan. I’ve installed a spigot and it drips into the Evan pan. It gets hot enough to start steaming.

I know my fire is hot, burning seasoned cherry mostly. The fire box is 16” deep. Flue pipe is 5”x8’ long, nice clear efficient smoke. So I’m missing something here. Make firebox deeper? Make air intake bigger? Extend flue pipe? Fire more often? I’d like to hit 5gph if possible.

[mspina14]

I have a 2X4 hobby evaporator with a flue pan and an 18"X24" syrup pan.

Took me about 10 hours and 150 gallons of sap to sweeten the pan. Sap was at about 1.8%

It just takes a while.

Mark

[mol1jb]

I would thin on that size you would have to be around 45-50 gal sap to start drawing syrup.

As for the uneven boil is your firebox ramped up as it goes back? How much space under the back 1/3 of your pan?

[KJamesJR]

I would thin on that size you would have to be around 45-50 gal sap to start drawing syrup.

As for the uneven boil is your firebox ramped up as it goes back? How much space under the back 1/3 of your pan?

The firebox is actually ramped down at the back by about 1/2”. The pan is shimed up to level when I installed the angle iron frame rail. I haven’t measured but there’s about 4” - 5” of space from the bottom of the pan, to the top of the fire box, this is at the back, there is no direct fire under this area.

[KJamesJR]

I have a 2X4 hobby evaporator with a flue pan and an 18"X24" syrup pan.

Took me about 10 hours and 150 gallons of sap to sweeten the pan. Sap was at about 1.8%

It just takes a while.

Mark About how deep is your fire box? Lengthwise your Mason is only about 8” shorter than mine. I’m trying to calculate a ratio. Maybe my fire just isn’t big enough to get the whole pan hot.

[mol1jb]

The firebox is actually ramped down at the back by about 1/2”. The pan is shimed up to level when I installed the angle iron frame rail. I haven’t measured but there’s about 4” - 5” of space from the bottom of the pan, to the top of the fire box, this is at the back, there is no direct fire under this area.

I think you would want less space under the back of your pan. By forcing the heat right inder the pan it will give you the best boil. With a 5 in flue pipe you could go as down to 1in under the back of the pan and still not restrict your gasses exiting.

[KJamesJR]

I think you would want less space under the back of your pan. By forcing the heat right inder the pan it will give you the best boil. With a 5 in flue pipe you could go as down to 1in under the back of the pan and still not restrict your gasses exiting. I’ll add another layer of fire brick back there and see if that does anything. Just seems like this arch should be blazing the heck out of that pan.

The rebar I’m using to build the fire on is melting so I know it’s hot where the fire IS. Just don’t know if it’s staying hot the whole length down.

[KJamesJR]

Okay maybe I lied, it’s about 6”. Don’t know how much higher I can go before I start blocking the exhaust. Unless I just leave some kind of relief in front of it. It’s a good place to start though.17754

[mol1jb]

Okay maybe I lied, it’s about 6”. Don’t know how much higher I can go before I start blocking the exhaust. Unless I just leave some kind of relief in front of it. It’s a good place to start though.17754

I see your exast is out the back. In that case build up the area under the pans until you get right infront of the exast then open it back up so it can vent. You should have much better results with less area under the pans

[KJamesJR]

I see your exast is out the back. In that case build up the area under the pans until you get right infront of the exast then open it back up so it can vent. You should have much better results with less area under the pans

Thanks mol. I will reply here and let you know how it goes. Tomorrow I’m going to be on wood duty so I may not be boiling until Friday.

One other question, when sweetening the pan, how do you keep your gradient? Mine just keeps mixing together as soon as it cools down. Should I just block it off with a piece of plate steel?

[mol1jb]

Thanks mol. I will reply here and let you know how it goes. Tomorrow I’m going to be on wood duty so I may not be boiling until Friday.

One other question, when sweetening the pan, how do you keep your gradient? Mine just keeps mixing together as soon as it cools down. Should I just block it off with a piece of plate steel?

You could draw off a gallon of sweet closest to the side your drawing off for that day. The next day, slowly pour that sweet into the draw off side that you will be using that day. Others just let it mix and have a larger draw at the begining of the day.

[Big_Eddy]

Typically how long does it take you guys with smaller continuous flow operations to sweeten your pans? I’ve put about 30 gallons of sap through and haven’t hit syrup yet.

I seem to be averaging about 3.5gph.

I have a smaller divided pan, 16”x40” on a block arch that’s air tight. No smoke coming out anywhere, no cracks... I don’t seem to be getting a good boil throughout the entire pan either. Usually right in the center divider it’s the most vicious. Almost no boil at the back of the pan. The pan is level and a gradient is forming.

I’m using a steam pan preheater sitting in the back of the main pan. I’ve installed a spigot and it drips into the Evan pan. It gets hot enough to start steaming.

I know my fire is hot, burning seasoned cherry mostly. The fire box is 16” deep. Flue pipe is 5”x8’ long, nice clear efficient smoke. So I’m missing something here. Make firebox deeper? Make air intake bigger? Extend flue pipe? Fire more often? I’d like to hit 5gph if possible.

If you build an even gradient in you pan, then simple math says pan volume x 20 / gph, or in your case 2.75gals/inch x 20 /3.5 = 55 gallons and 15.7 hours if you run 1" deep. Double that if you run at 2"

There are a number of factors that affect this. Shallower means less sap in the pan means faster to syrup. The hotter the fire, the faster you evaporate, the steeper the gradient and therefore the shorter the timeframe. If you let your depth fluctuate - even slightly - that drives a lot of mixing the in pan and therefore takes a lot longer to get to the first draw.

But truthfully - it really doesn't matter. If raw sap is going in and steam is coming off - eventually you are going to get syrup.

[Sugarmaker]

Thanks mol. I will reply here and let you know how it goes. Tomorrow I’m going to be on wood duty so I may not be boiling until Friday.

One other question, when sweetening the pan, how do you keep your gradient? Mine just keeps mixing together as soon as it cools down. Should I just block it off with a piece of plate steel?

Unless you have a plug in the partitions or valves between pans then its going to be though to stop the back blending.

Regards,
Chris

[Mikemartin274]

It depends on the depth you are running. Takes me about 100 gallons. When I cook the sweet I get 2-3 gallons

[KJamesJR]

I’ve been keeping it about 3/4”-1”.

I’ve been trying to keep the sap shallow because I wasn’t getting enough heat under the pan. I’m going to brick in the area under the pan and hopefully that helps.

[Eberzin]

On a 2x4 hobby running 1.5 inches deep I will draw at about 5 hours then again within another 2 hours, after that the draws are about every hour or a little more. After two days I am not so sure since I usually finish my flu sweet and clean up and start over. If nitre was not such a deal I would run longer. If sap is really sweet you may draw sooner and faster.

[KJamesJR]

I’ve come to learn my pan doesn’t like having less than an inch of sap in it. Tried to draw some syrup off at around 3/4” and it wasn’t high enough to reach the valve. Had to flood the pan to keep it from burning. The pan is level front to back and side to side. Running at 1” - 1 1/2” now. Finally got it sweetened though and was able to draw off some syrup. Really light.

Bricked in the back of the arch up to the exhaust. Finally getting a decent boil. Not so much under the preheater pan. Probably due to condensation dripping back in.