Flush rear pan

[Kh7722]

Hey all,

Does anyone flush their rear pan, clean and put sweet back in between every boil?
Keep looking into permeate and pan washing systems but was unsure of the results. Would like to get feedback before i spend a bunch of money on that.
Thanks
Kevin

[MISugarDaddy]

Kevin,
My decision as to when to clean my flue pan is based on how long it is going to be before we are expecting to boil again. If it is going to be over 2 days before we expect to boil, I drain the flue pan into food grade pails and store it where it can be kept cool. I then rinse out the flue pan with hot water to clean it up some and then I let it sit until the next boil. This may sound unnecessary, but our sugarhouse is heated to a minimum of 50 degrees when we are not boiling, and when I asked about what to do, it was told that I should do what I am doing.
With my syrup pan, I drain that whenever we are not going to be boiling, even if it is only one day before the next boil. I use the day off from boiling as an opportunity to clean it with vinegar to remove any accumulated sugar sand.
It makes for a little extra work, but I don't like to take chances on partially boiled sap spoiling in my evaporator.
Gary

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

A lot of people run the flue pan all season without cleaning it. For the big guys with large evaporators, it is quite a chore. We usually do not clean ours but based on the niter we got with this warm sap run I am debating on bringing it up to a boil and running it through the filter press this weekend to clean it up. We will have the press out anyway to bottle the syrup we have made so far. If your shack is heated like MI sugardaddy, then you need to do something with it if it's going to sit for more than 1 or 2 days. Our shack is heated and insulated where the evaporator sits. We do not heat it during sap season but having the insulation is nice because it also holds in the cool air. Yesterday, it was 61 degrees outside when I started to boil but temp inside the shack and the pans were at 39 degrees.

[Kh7722]

Let me rephrase, does anyone have experience in rear pan washing systems? Wondering if they are worth the money and if it helps with quality of syrup produced?