New Evaporator Question with New Pan

[Mboeselager]

I have a few questions. For this year I bought a new Smokey Lake 2x3 pan continuous flow pan and about 3 weeks later I bought a new Smokey Lake Star Cat Evaporator. The evaporator is about 3 inches smaller width than my pan. This is my fault, I bought the 2 separately knowing the difference. After a weekend of boiling I have some questions:

1. Since my pan is larger than the evap, I have 2 of my 3 channels boiling nicely. I choose to leave my sap intake channel NOT over the heat, because I choose to have my 2nd and 3rd channel boil since I can't fit all 3 on my evap. Is this an issue to be concerned with?

2. I have noticed that my syrup is struggling to get to 219 in my final channel, do I need to just be more patient, or could this be due to my first channel not boiling?

3. I do have a nice gradient that appears between the 3 channels. I have a trickle feed intake, sometimes my pan gets too full, so I turn it off. My gradient starts to disappear, is that normal?


The new Star Cat is very nice and well built, I really like it. (my first real arch).

thx,
Mike

20 taps (used to be on propane) now on Star Cat.

19843

[maple flats]

How long have you boiled on it? Sometimes it can seem like a long time to get to syrup density to those new to boiling. That said, after the season, try to find a way to make the arch wider. You only want 1/4-1/2" overlap on the evaporator, the rest should all have the fire under it. That means if a pan is 24" wide the opening under that should be 23" to 23.5" wide. The arch is that much wider than the pan.
On my 3' wide pans, the arch overall width is at least 39" wide, the opening between the rails is 35.25", so my pans have 3/8" in contact with the sides of the arch (the gasket). You do not need a new arch, any good welder can make it wider and make it look like it should be that way.

[Big_Eddy]

I have a few questions. For this year I bought a new Smokey Lake 2x3 pan continuous flow pan and about 3 weeks later I bought a new Smokey Lake Star Cat
3. I do have a nice gradient that appears between the 3 channels. I have a trickle feed intake, sometimes my pan gets too full, so I turn it off. My gradient starts to disappear, is that normal?

thx,
Mike


Yes - as soon as you stop adding new sap, you will start to lose the gradient in the pans.
This happens because the density throughout the pans is now going to increase at the same rate throughout the evaporator - or in the case of a flue pan - faster in the sap pan than the syrup pan.

Open the valve again, and it will start to reestablish itself.
Honestly - it really doesn't make that much difference to the end product - it may make your draws a little larger until the pans stabilize again.

The same thing will happen if you start firing less frequently with larger wood and slow down the overall evaporation rate.