Divided pan question

[CTguy923]

this fall i bought a Mason 2x4 arch with no pan, i found what i thought was a good deal on a Vermont Evaporator company divided 2x4 pan, when the pan showed up i saw the dividers were spot welded , well using it this season i could not get a gradient going for nothing, i know it takes quite a bit of boiling to get it started but i probably boiled down 250-300 gallons and had nothing...so this leads me to my question, if i found someone who can weld the dividers solid for me, is there anything special they need to know about welding a syrup pan ??

[maple flats]

after using it this season and getting sugar under the divider, you will have a hard time getting it clean enough to "fix" the problem. My suggestion is to continue using it, in time sugar will seal so the leaks either go away or at least subside significantly.
Are you sure it is spot welded and not soldered? If soldered, it can be removed and cleaned 100% then either welded or even lead free soldered back in.
The other option, sell it and buy a different pan.

[tombaisley]

i have mason 2x4xl pan that is for sale

[ir3333]

There must be something else going on.The spot welded dividers will not stop you from
getting a gradient,I have used them, a gradient is established quickly and they work as good as
welded partitions.
Make sure your infeed is in the correct place, you are running no more than 1 1/2" depth and have
a good strong rolling boil. Nice "bubbling" is not enough.

[CTguy923]

There must be something else going on.The spot welded dividers will not stop you from
getting a gradient,I have used them, a gradient is established quickly and they work as good as
welded partitions.
Make sure your infeed is in the correct place, you are running no more than 1 1/2" depth and have
a good strong rolling boil. Nice "bubbling" is not enough.

my infeed is in the back right corner and the drawoff is the left front corner, i was running between 1 1/2 and 2 inches, ran nearly 250 gallons thru it one boil and got nothing even close to a gradient, , only thing maybe my fire wasnt kept hot enough, i was burning pine, firing every 8 minutes

[tombaisley]

leave your draw off valve dripping, just feed it back in

[CTguy923]

leave your draw off valve dripping, just feed it back in

Which channel do I put it back in ??
Sorry for the dumb questions , first year with a divided pan

[Sugarmaker]

Couple things come to mind.
The 2x4 pan is not very big to get a gradient going.
Maybe if the seams were solid it would be better, I would agree with that statement. I believe without them solid, (welded or soldered) you will get syrup mix through entire pan. Will they be easy to weld or solder now after making syrup? No sinse as mentioned its hard to get the sugar out of the joint.
Anyway you should be able to make a pan full of syrup. One big batch. Heck I have large batches on my old 3x10 on each startup.
What was/is your sugar content? Low sugar content could lead to a lot of sap to sweeten the pans too.
Keep boiling.
Regards,
Chris

[Big_Eddy]

Running 2" deep, there is a lot of mixing going on. If you are fluctuating between 1 1/2 and 2 inches - there is even more mixing going on. Do you have a float box, or are you adding sap manually or at a constant trickle?
If you are running that deep - the amount of sap that is "mixing" under the spot welded dividers is going to be trivial compared to the amount of back and forth mixing going on through the openings.

How many sections in the pan? The more there are, the easier it is to get a gradient in place. If the plan only has 2 or 3 sections - it is difficult to get much of a gradient.

Try running at 1" - much easier to develop a gradient - although a lot more stressful and NO tolerance for distractions.

[Swingpure]

Just reading this thread for the first time. When ordering my pan, the builder made it with four channels. I had seen a lot of three channel pans and asked about that, but he convinced me four was best. I am glad I listened to him.

Interesting about the float box levels. This will be my first time with a divided pan and a float box. I was going to set it at 2”, which likely is good to start. Good to know an 1.5” level eventually might be ideal.

One new question, do most people finish the syrup in the pan, or pull it off a hair sooner than syrup and finish it later?

Thanks

Gary

[Pdiamond]

I usually pulled a hair sooner on my divided pan and finished on the stove in the house. You can finish on the pan and once it is set just trickle off the syrup in a small stream almost dripping but steady.

[Super Sapper]

I find that it is a lot easier to finish at syrup or just a little heavy and adjust when you reheat to bottle.

[berkshires]

One new question, do most people finish the syrup in the pan, or pull it off a hair sooner than syrup and finish it later?

Thanks

Gary

Now we're getting much further off topic (which is why it's better to start a new thread). But I'll answer anyway.

It varies a lot depending on how people like to finish/bottle their syrup, and how confident they are about their draw-off process. Personally, I like to start the draw right on or a little light. I always finish mine on the stove when I bottle, and I am not super-confident about the draw-off, and I don't mind cooking a bit inside when I'm finishing.

Here's where I'm going way off-topic. The thing about the draw-off is that sometimes during your draw the temp will spike, and I'd rather start a little under. It gives me a little more wiggle room. This usually happens when you start from a cold sweetened pan with no gradient, and the draw-off area is not the hottest part of your pan. The first syrup of the new boil can wind up being made further back (I hear it can even happen in your middle channel, which sounds like a nightmare to me). It can sometimes happen on a later boil, if you happen to have a big batch of syrup in the last pan and you don't open the draw wide enough. I hate seeing my pan suddenly foam up and having to crank the draw-off all the way open and open my in-feed all the way (and pray). Or worse, having to dump cold sap into my pan (both to keep the pan from scorching), but I've had to do both. I would definitely rather start the draw-off a little light and then gradually open more if the temp starts to go up or turn off the feed if the temp starts to drop.

GO

[Swingpure]

For this with a 2x4 divided pan or smaller, when you do your draw off, do you open the valve fairly wide open when you draw off, or do you let it trickle out.

My pan maker said to open it up and that trickling it out is for much larger pans. I don’t think I understood why.

[berkshires]

For this with a 2x4 divided pan or smaller, when you do your draw off, do you open the valve fairly wide open when you draw off, or do you let it trickle out.

My pan maker said to open it up and that trickling it out is for much larger pans. I don’t think I understood why.

I have a 2x3 and I can usually get away with trickling it out on most draws. Just be prepared that the temp will go up a degree or two and might even spike higher. I think I commented on what I do if this happens in the post right above yours.

GO