Syrup pan popping and spouting up syrup

[Clinkis]

Looking for some help. I’m boiling on a 18x60 Lapierre evaporator on a propane arch. Been working good all season. Now the last 2 or 3 boils it’s started doing something strange and I can seem to figure out why. When I fire it up and it starts to boil, the syrup pan makes a sound like popcorn popping and it shoots spouts of syrup up in the air. It does this for the first hour or 2 and then it seems to go away. Don’t remember it doing this at the start of the season. Makes an awful mess because the syrup goes all over the place and runs down the side of the pan. I’m at a loss as to why this is happening. I’ve turned heat up and down. Tried running pan deeper and shallower but doesn’t seem to make much difference. An ideas?

[Sugarmaker]

Maybe sugarsand in the pan?
Regards,
Chris

[Clinkis]

Pan is spotless. I clean it every day. In fact I thought it was maybe the fact that the pan was slightly warped so went and bought another syrup pan. New pan does the same. Really strange.

[HillsideMaple]

This used to happen to me on my last evaporator. Usually mid to late season after the pan had been sweetened up. The only thing I could figure was either soot build up on the underside of the pan, or.....starting out with concentrate that is really sweet. Hasn’t happened to me this year on the new rig so I’m just taking a stab at what what it might be based on my past boils. I used to put a lid on my syrup pan till it worked past the popping and spitting.

[Clinkis]

This used to happen to me on my last evaporator. Usually mid to late season after the pan had been sweetened up. The only thing I could figure was either soot build up on the underside of the pan, or.....starting out with concentrate that is really sweet. Hasn’t happened to me this year on the new rig so I’m just taking a stab at what what it might be based on my past boils. I used to put a lid on my syrup pan till it worked past the popping and spitting.

Yeah that sounds exactly like what mine is doing. I’ve been doing the same, putting a lid on it to keep it from making too much of a mess. Took about an hour today and then it was fine. Wasn’t doing it at the start of the year so wondering if it has something to do with the state of the sap and concentrate....it’s weird. I had the same evaporator only a size smaller for many years before this and don’t ever recall it happening with it.

[mol1jb]

I had something like this happen a few times this year in my syrup pan. I have an older soldered pan. We figured that after cleaning the pan there was a bit of water that worked it way into the seams and was boiling and popping a bit until it evaporated. Never made a mess like yours though.

[marlmucker]

We cleaned out our evaporator last weekend and I was finishing off the syrup on propane. My 16”x16” pan was bouncing and popping in the burner, dangerous. We ended up filtering off the hot near-up and putting it back on. Pretty much solved the problem.

[Clinkis]

We cleaned out our evaporator last weekend and I was finishing off the syrup on propane. My 16”x16” pan was bouncing and popping in the burner, dangerous. We ended up filtering off the hot near-up and putting it back on. Pretty much solved the problem.

This kinda makes sense. I drain my syrup pan after each boil, Soak and clean it, and then dump the concentrate back into the pan when I start my next boil. I wonder if it’s the loose nitre floating around that’s causing it. And once it settles to the bottom it stops. I’ll try filtering it before I start and see what happens.

[marlmucker]

I’m almost certain that’s what’s happening. I do/did same thing typically. This was the first time the popping happeneded that bad. We filtered it only through felt and it was enough so we could start boiling again.

[nymapleguy607]

My evaporator has been doing the same thing the last few boils. It seems to be because of the sugar sand we filter the sweet and wash the pan every night. However we still get the popping, the syrup just seems to have a lot of niter once warmed up it is better.

[RC Maple]

Ive had the same thing...kind of. Some days I'll notice the popping noise and i can see syrup jump just a bit. Ive never had it make a mess or cause a problem though. Sometimes it does it but most of the time not. I drain and filter my sweet after every boil and clean the pan too. I also brush excess soot from the bottom of the pan. I always thought it was weather related. Just like some days boil better than others.

[Jeff E]

The mystery is fascinating....I was thinking nitre build up-NO- soot-Maybe-dirty syrup-Maybe-Propane flame poorly impacting the pan-Maybe--for sure is it irregular heating, hot spots caused by something.
Keep us posted on your solution

[Clinkis]

So today I cleaned my pan up and rinsed it with permeate as usual. But this time I dried it completely and then I dumped my concentrate in until I got to the bottom bit that was thick with nitre. This I filtered and dumped into the flue pan. Fired up...AND NO POPPING OR SPOUTING SYRUP! So its either the water in the pan from washing or the nitre floating around in the concentrate but pretty sure it’s the later. So mystery solved I think. Thanks for all the help and suggestions!