turning pans around on half-pint

[penfrydd]

I'm boiling on a half-pint. The temps in the syrup section are way hotter (5-10 degrees) in the back of the pan as compared to the front. I'm running anywhere from 3/4" to 1 1/2" depth with no change.

In a previous post with a similar question, someone mentioned building the fire as close to the doors as possible.

Has anyone just turned the pans around and taken off from the back of the arch? It seems like the easiest solution. I wonder why it's not suggested in the various Leader materials.

Nice run a few days ago. Almost glad that things calmed down a bit.

Have a good season.

[ecolbeck]

I say try it. Let us know how well it works.

do half pint arches incorporate a ramp of any kind? It seems like that might help force heat up against the pan.

[Page Meadow Maple]

I have a half pint. I still haven’t mastered it.

Yesterday, I boiled 72 gallons and never once did I see the temperature gauge hit the syrup mark. I keep the sap level just above the thermometer and evenly distribute the wood so the whole arch is covered. I add 4 sticks every 10-15 minutes.

Last night, I left all the reduced “near syrup” in the evaporator. I will go out and collect more sap as soon as the winds let up, and add that to the pan. I am hoping this weekend I will finally draw off some syrup rather than draining off and finishing up on my turkey fryer!

[FoxCobbler]

On my half pint I always take off the back right corner. Nice and hot back there.
Empty the pan and turn it every couple of boils.
Have a firebrick wall where the grate ends up until half inch under the pan.
Also a blower.
And a preheater pan with the smoke stack running through it that brings it close to a boil coming in.
Half pints are fun.

[penfrydd]

There is no ramp on the half pint. I do have a blower. By the way...Home Depot 4" X 10" duct fits the draft just about perfectly for around 6 bucks. I'm going to turn the pans around this morning and see how it goes.

Question: How do all of you guys add your signature line to your posts? Manually every time? That can't be right. I'm an old dog and hard to train!

Penfrydd Farm
21 taps around the yard
half pint with blower

[eustis22]

put a ramp (or a wall) up in the offseason

[penfrydd]

The grand experiment will happen tomorrow when I boil again. I turn the pans 180 degrees, so I'll be taking off from the back of the evaporator. All I needed to do was use my angle grinder to make a couple of notches in the metal surrounding the pans on the back of the half-pint.

It's been cold here, so sap seems to be keeping well, but not running all that much compared to last week, of course.

Penfrydd Farm
21 taps
half-pint

[unclejohn]

hey penfrydd: to make your signature, log in to MT using your name and password, click on Settings at the top of the page, then along the left side of the screen click on "edit signature". Then click on the button "save signature". hope this helps Now that our sugarmaking is done I can browse MT and learn what I did wrong this year!

[penfrydd]

thanks Uncle John

[penfrydd]

After turning the pans around on the half-pint (taking off from the back corner), I can say that it works a bit better.

Another observation was that the whole evaporator works better with no blower. Now, perhaps my blower has too many cfm. It's an old greenhouse inflator fan. But I can tell you that when I removed the blower, I had boiling all over the pans, front to back. The blower obviously does get the fire going stronger when wood is first added, but other than that, I prefer no blower at this point. I do have a rheostat but it doesn't do much.

I haven't walked out to the other side of the barn yet to see if my "tent" sugar house is still standing.

[phil-t]

I tried this; worked great, and I much prefer drawing from the rear of the pan. A lot to be done with a half pint to get it working well. I found it can be "pushed" pretty hard.

[bowhunter]

I've been using a 1/2 pint for 6 years and they are not easy to master. Since I started using the RO I can draw syrup of the pan just like the big evaporators but sometimes it's a challenge. To answer your question here's what I do to fire it. First, get some pieces of 1/2 fire brick (about 1/3 of brick long) and stack then in front of the grate in the gap between it and the brick on the walls. There's a big gap there than allows cold air to come right up the inside of the front of the evaporator and keep the front of it cool. If you haven't already done so, stack a row or two of fire brick in the back third of the evaporator to create a kind of ramp. Make sure you split your wood pretty small (2 -2 1/2 inch) to keep a really hot fire going. I've generally found it best to put the new wood in the front and push the coals and partially burned wood to the back. I also have to run the pan level pretty low say 1 inch or less. If you don't it's almost impossible to keep a good gradient. If you get any boil-up at all the pan just back mixes and everything comes to about the same boiling point. This is a big complaint I have with all the evaporator manufacturers. They don't really make the channels small enough to prevent back mixing. I haven't used one of the Mason XL's but I think they probably work much better than the 1/2 pint. I would never buy another half pint because of this issue.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

I've been using a 1/2 pint for 6 years and they are not easy to master. Since I started using the RO I can draw syrup of the pan just like the big evaporators but sometimes it's a challenge. To answer your question here's what I do to fire it. First, get some pieces of 1/2 fire brick (about 1/3 of brick long) and stack then in front of the grate in the gap between it and the brick on the walls. There's a big gap there than allows cold air to come right up the inside of the front of the evaporator and keep the front of it cool. If you haven't already done so, stack a row or two of fire brick in the back third of the evaporator to create a kind of ramp. Make sure you split your wood pretty small (2 -2 1/2 inch) to keep a really hot fire going. I've generally found it best to put the new wood in the front and push the coals and partially burned wood to the back. I also have to run the pan level pretty low say 1 inch or less. If you don't it's almost impossible to keep a good gradient. If you get any boil-up at all the pan just back mixes and everything comes to about the same boiling point. This is a big complaint I have with all the evaporator manufacturers. They don't really make the channels small enough to prevent back mixing. I haven't used one of the Mason XL's but I think they probably work much better than the 1/2 pint. I would never buy another half pint because of this issue.

We run a Mason 2x4XL and it does ok keeping the gradient with our sap averaging 1.8%. The few collections that ran 3-3.5% it kept the gradient excellent. If I had a choice I would add another division if I was running straight sap, or as we are planning to add a RO in the futhure, it is perfect with 4 dividers, as designed. 18081

[brass maple]

Penfrydd
If you are just blowing the air straight in to the draft you will get some heat out of it but if you get the air to blow straight up through the grates it will work way better. I have a blower set up and I ran it in from the back through a 2 inch pipe. I caped the end that goes to the front and drilled a series of holes on the pipe facing straight at the grate. This will take things from a boil to a raging boil.

[phil-t]

Funny, I found the opposite to be true on my 1/2 pint. Took the tube off the blower and went to a much hotter fire and intense boil. As was recommended by another member here.
Just my experience.
I'm dumping my air in in front though. Right behind the draft door. Got gap across the front between the grates and brick sealed off with a piece of steel angle.

[penfrydd]

Thanks for all the useful replies. This website is almost as addictive as Craigslist. I need to stay focused on staying tiny and just making enough for family and friends every few years.

I do like to do things efficiently, however, so I will try that idea of blocking up the space between the doors and the grates. I got tired of watching huge drops of condensed steam drip back into the pans from the preheater, so I used shims and have it dripping outside of the pans. I'm thinking next year of using my preheater as a float box. I found a nice SS float on ebay for $25 which I'll plumb up so that it works.

If I'm disciplined and restrict myself to the trees around my driveway, I can limit myself to around 35 taps. I do have a nice sugarbush in the woods but really don't want to go bigger. I'm considering one of those bucket RO things.

My goal is to get my cost of producing a gallon of syrup below the cost of the equipment before I die in a few years...this does not, of course, include my time.

[Greenthumb]

Thanks for all the useful replies. This website is almost as addictive as Craigslist. I need to stay focused on staying tiny and just making enough for family and friends every few years.

I do like to do things efficiently, however, so I will try that idea of blocking up the space between the doors and the grates. I got tired of watching huge drops of condensed steam drip back into the pans from the preheater, so I used shims and have it dripping outside of the pans. I'm thinking next year of using my preheater as a float box. I found a nice SS float on ebay for $25 which I'll plumb up so that it works.

If I'm disciplined and restrict myself to the trees around my driveway, I can limit myself to around 35 taps. I do have a nice sugarbush in the woods but really don't want to go bigger. I'm considering one of those bucket RO things.

My goal is to get my cost of producing a gallon of syrup below the cost of the equipment before I die in a few years...this does not, of course, include my time.

Keep saying that to yourself- It will never work. The addiction is too strong. I bet you have 100 taps in no time

[eustis22]

your # of taps always expands to supply yur evaporator

your evaporator always expands to meet the number of tappable trees

Math is good.

[penfrydd]

Guys, I understand expansion of the universe and all, but perhaps you don't understand my signature line. It's my first time boiling in 46 years. It's not that I'm 46 years old: it's that I last boiled in 1972. If I add more than 35 taps, it will interfere with my nap time! Also, I really don't like making mud in my woods. It's shallow soil to bedrock. I manage it for firewood and lumber.

I will, however, move my evaporator either into my existing barn or into a new shack next year, or whenever I boil again.

[eustis22]

you're gonna need a bigger shack

[Greenthumb]

you're gonna need a bigger shack

Looks like a bigger shack maybe a tractor with tracs to not tear up your woods while collecting. Probably want to get a big dairy storage tank for sap. Keep saying it’s only a hobby but next thing you know your in over your head and your wife won’t speak to you.

Just speaking about a friend