Draw off bay creating baked niter

[Mead Maple]

Hi guys, in the middle of boiling as we speak and thought I would throw a question out there. Yesterday I fired up for a little bit in hopes to get caught up in anticipation for the big run the next couple of days. In doing so I noticed the partition closest to the flu pan which is where I draw off and the flame is hottest had some weird foam going on. So after a while and hitting it with defoamer to no success I decided to shut down and take a look. Niter had built up and stuck to the bottom of that portion of the syrup pan I proceeded to drain it scrub it clean and turn the pan for todays run. Fired up today and everything looked great. Now about three hours into boiling, it is creating the same foam and I can feel with my ladle the same issue beginning to happen in the syrup pan. The other two bays do not have this problem going on, this has not happened all year and I have not changed anything. I know the sugar sand has increased exponentially and wondering if excessive amounts of this is causing it. Thoughts?

2x8, 5 drop flue 3 syrup, oil fired


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[Brian]

that is normal, I switch sides after 2 hours. After 3-3.5 hours i have to stop and clean the front pan. Some run permeate through them,some use spring water and some use pan cleaner or vineger.

[tcross]

i've ran into the same problem this week. all year up until now i've been able to just rinse out my front pan. Now i can only get through 200-300 gallons and it bakes right on and i need to do a vinegar soak. i've heard a few fellow sugar makers locally with the same issues. just the way it goes i guess.

[mol1jb]

Happens for us as well in the second half of the season. Either need to reverse flow or look into a bubbler.

[Mead Maple]

While it does not fix the problem, I am certainly glad to see that this is typical and certainly sounds like it is more prominent later in the season. Just had me freaking out thinking I was running into issues beyond natural causes. Thanks for the replies guys, definitely eased my mind!


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[Sugarmaker]

We change sides almost every day or every 10-15 gallons of syrup made.
Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[Brian]

I made 100 gallons this morning. The whole front pan was nitered so bad. I ran ro water through it most of the day. I just finished cleaning the front pan and going to boil again tonight when the ro finishes up.

[Mead Maple]

I appreciate all the responses and those who have chimes in. This was not a problem last year when I boiled on a little 2x4 but I was cleaning each run. I went ahead and drained my whole flue pan today and filtered. Plenty of treasures in there so happy I am not sending that to the syrup pan. Will be draining syrup pan tomorrow and scrubbing clean. Will be boiling later this weekend!


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[SeanD]

Niter was very heavy down here this year. I've gotten into the habit of cleaning the front pan after every boil. The back pan gets a drain and rinse at least once during the season when there is a lull. That also makes a big difference. If you are boiling concentrate, a lot of sugar sand piles up there, too. By the way, if you are cleaning your front pan, you don't need to flip it.

[Mead Maple]

Thanks Sean. I have been making a habit of flipping even after I clean for the sake of keeping things even. Mostly underneath of pan so that all things are being used equally. Probably bit OCD but I have to take the pan off and bring in the garage anyways so other than the thermometer and draw valve change it is no different. I guess going forward I will not that when this happens I will be more proactive in the 2nd half of the season. All these replies definitely help ease my worries. I appreciate the responses


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