Divided pan use - Question

[johnpjackson]

Hi :)

I've got a well made divided pan for my backyard boiling. 21" x 24", 6" deep, with three troughs and a warming tank with spigot on top. I'm new to using a divided pan. I understand that you set the spigot on the warming tank to let new sap flow into the pan at the same rate water in the sap is boiling off from the pan. I've use the pan to successfully make a few gallons of syrup, so far. What I'm now wondering is if I'm using it correctly.

I've started by putting an inch of sap in the pan, get it boiling, then slowly add more sap from the warming tank to get it to ~2". Then I keep that level going until I'm out of more sap to add, or until what's in the pan makes it all the way to syrup, as evidenced by it's boiling temperature rising to 219 degrees. Once I'm there, I draw off the whole contents of the pan, all at once. I send it through a filter and into a tank where I'll get it from later to finish and can it.

Filtering is a problem. The amount of sediment is so much that it clogs the filter before all the syrup makes it through. My question is, can/should I be using the divided pan to run a continuous (slow) draw off, which will also let me manage the filtering stage better? I'm trying to understand if I'm using the syrup density gradient aspect of the divided pan correctly or not. The thought I had was that even though I have a divided pan, the way I'm using it right now seems to not be appreciably different than if I was just using a wide open pan.

Thank you to anyone who has time to share their wisdom about it!

-John

[ecolbeck]

You are right, the idea behind a divided pan is to have a sap input on one end and syrup output on the other. Consistent sap levels and consistent firing are keys to producing syrup on a divided pan setup. The trickle-in sap setup and a small pan can make this a challenge but it's possible to do. For filtering I recommend using prefilters to keep the main filter cleaner for longer.

[berkshires]

Where are you adding raw warmed sap into your pan? It should be going into one end, farthest from the drawoff. Then as you boil, you should form a gradient, so it's raw sap in the first channel, and (eventually) syrup in the last channel (somewhere in between in your middle channel). When it gets to syrup in your last channel, you increase the flow of sap feeding into the evaporator, and draw off syrup until the temperature in the pan drops.

Does that make sense?

Gabe

[BCPP]

For your filtering issue we line the felt filter with two or three layers of orlon filter. As the top orlon filter clogs we remove it to increase the flow. We repeat this a couple of times during the boil. Orlon filters are cheap, reusable a bunch of times and easy to clean. We also invert the center of the felt filter to increase the filter area.

[maple flats]

I think BCPP is a little confused. Line the felt (OR Orlon) filter with 2,3 or more paper filters. Then as each clogs up, carefully dump it's contents into the next paper filter.
Another method that helps is to mix some DE, (filter aid) (food grade, from a maple dealer diatomaceous earth, other sources will not likely be the correct size even if food grade). Mix in about 1/2 cup per 1 gal of hot syrup, then filter it. The DE will be caught by the filter and form a filter cake. Using this method you will only need 1 prefilter. When done filtering, wash in plain hot water, do not wring, just squeeze. Hang to dry.
I used to use 3-4 pre-filters, and an orlon filter under it. I got as much as I could filtered, then I cleaned the prefilters separately from the orlon. That got washed in clean hot water and dumped back into the pan to boil, recovering most of the sweet in it.

[buck3m]

"My question is, can/should I be using the divided pan to run a continuous (slow) draw off, which will also let me manage the filtering stage better?"

I'll assume the warming pan lets you trickle the sap into the end of a trough at the far end from a draw-off spigot.

You are right, you should trickle in sap at the same rate that water is boiled away. You should be monitoring the density of the nearly finished syrup nearest the spigot, then very, very slowly trickle out finished syrup. Start and stop the trickle as necessary. Continue that until you are out of time or sap.

Dumping out the whole pan at once really is defeating the purpose of the divided pan. For one thing, different parts of the pan will have different densities.

With that small of a pan I wouldn't filter as I trickled out finished syrup, because it would cool too fast. I'd save up a larger amount and filter it later heating it to near boiling. Use several paper pre-filters on top of a thicker Orlon filter, carefully removing the inner one as it clogs. It's helpful if they are all moistened ahead of time.

[bigschuss]

"
Dumping out the whole pan at once really is defeating the purpose of the divided pan. For one thing, different parts of the pan will have different densities.



Agree. I think this is where you are going wrong. At the end of the day, or when you have no more sap, just let your fire die down and let the pan and sap sit until your next boil. No need to empty the pan. The next time you have enough sap to boil, just fire t back up and you will see very quickly that you reestablish your gradient.

If temperatures between your boils get warm just fire it up and boil the sap for 10 minutes or so to kill bacteria. Really, you really only need to empty the pan at the very end of your season.

Where in Western Mass. are you?

[BCPP]

I think BCPP is a little confused. Line the felt (OR Orlon) filter with 2,3 or more paper filters. Then as each clogs up, carefully dump it's contents into the next paper filter.
Another method that helps is to mix some DE, (filter aid) (food grade, from a maple dealer diatomaceous earth, other sources will not likely be the correct size even if food grade). Mix in about 1/2 cup per 1 gal of hot syrup, then filter it. The DE will be caught by the filter and form a filter cake. Using this method you will only need 1 prefilter. When done filtering, wash in plain hot water, do not wring, just squeeze. Hang to dry.
I used to use 3-4 pre-filters, and an orlon filter under it. I got as much as I could filtered, then I cleaned the prefilters separately from the orlon. That got washed in clean hot water and dumped back into the pan to boil, recovering most of the sweet in it.not confused but perhaps a difference in nomenclature? The orlon prefilters we use are labelled as orlon, definitely washable and come in packs of 10 or 12. Purchased from CDL I think. Other than that the process we use is as described, remove the prefilters as they clog.

[BSHC]

just to clarify is your pan set up for continuous flow or just a 3 partition pan? all the advice on here is for continuous flow set up but i am not clear that is what you have

[johnpjackson]

It's setup for continuous flow, I would say. The warming pan spigot flows into one corner of the pan. The two dividers have one bottom corner cutout, at opposite ends. The corner opposite the warming spigot has taps for the draw off valve and the thermometer.

[johnpjackson]

I'm in Montague. I'm really just a small potato here. I have 21 taps I put out this year and an evaporator setup I just created. The last time I did this was when I was a kid. But I've been wanting to get back to it ever since. And I'm 'only' 54 now ;)
I'm using a 250K BTU propane burner for my fire so starting and stopping the process is simple and quick. I would like to go with a wood fired evaporator in the future at some point, if I come up with a situation that lends itself well to that.

[johnpjackson]

It does make sense. What I've found so far is that I guess because the pan is so small, it doesn't seem like I'm ending up with much difference in density and temperature between where the sap enters at one end of the circuit and where it leaves at the other. I'm going to try it again this weekend and see if I can find the tipping point to try and stay on top of, between the flow into the pan and flow out through the draw off.

[BCPP]

We have a mini pro evaporator that has a finishing pan that is roughly the same size BUT it is a least 12" deep and has a float valve that let's sap in. It runs at about 3/4" deep, having sap much deeper than that I'm not sure you'd ever get to a gradient. As it is we run for at least 10 hours before we get close to what I would call a gradient. Even then, the pan area is so small that it's more of a continuous batch process where we draw off small amounts at around 30 min intervals.The depth of our pans is critical as by the time the syrup is ready for draw in third channel the sap in second channel is foaming up- sometimes exceeding the height of our 9" dividers.

[red/one]

We use a coffee urn to bottle. I place a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out on top and hang my filters in it. When I start my finish heating on the fryer my wife pours some hot water through the filters into the urn and turn it on and cover it. When I'm close to bottling temp she pours out the water from the urn and we start filtering. We use one synthetic and 4 pre filters. We can bottle 2-3 gallons in less than 30 minutes. pulling filters as they clog. The wet filters make a difference.

[Z/MAN]

red/one, put a lid on top of the filters/pail. You won't believe how much faster your syrup will go through the filters if you keep the heat in.

[red/one]

red/one, put a lid on top of the filters/pail. You won't believe how much faster your syrup will go through the filters if you keep the heat in.

Yessir that's what we do!:cool: We bottled just over 3 gallons last night and used 5 pre-filters. It works well. May upgrade to a vacuum set up next year. Home built of course...