End of Year Syrup pan Sweet

[TapTapTap]

I realize that some guys boil down the sweet on a finishing setup. But I assume that others like me don't because our operation isn't great for that kind of production and the last pan might not be our premium product.

So I was wondering what others do. I noticed someone on Craigslist was advertising thiers for $20. I thought that was a great idea but I see it's still posted so might not have sold. I'm assuming anyone that's set up to finish is maybe done for the season.

Ken

[DrTimPerkins]

Many people will "chase the sweet" with water, which just steepens the gradient and gets a little more syrup out of the evaporator, but still leaves a good bit of sugar behind. This works well if you're using the "sour sap" method of pan cleaning.

We boil until we're out of concentrate, then close off the front and back pans, transfer all the contents of the back pan into the front pan (ends up pretty deep). Feed water into the back pan (with the valves between front and back still closed) and boil. The front pan contents are scooped around to mix them thoroughly. Keep boiling until all the contents of the front pan reach the syrup stage. Draw off all of front pan as syrup. This way you don't lose sugar much at all. This works better if you're going to clean with permeate and acid.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Same as Dr. Tim except we don't push it right to syrup. Keep stirring and we shut it down when it hits 218 and then use the finisher to get it to syrup. This method is obviously easier to do with oil than wood given the cool down period needed but I'm sure anyone could figure it out with a little trial and error and water nearby in case it was needed!

[MillbrookMaple]

I'll add to Dr. Tim. I fill 5 gal buckets (about 6 buckets for my 30x8) from the back pan, close off the valve between, and fill the back pan with water. I then feed the front pan through the float box a couple gallons at a time as I draw off. I do run the front pan deeper than normal in this case to prevent catastrophe. I also draw off heavy (2 points) at the beginning so that when I run out of sap what little "thin syrup) is left after everything cools down balances out to almost perfect density if not a point heavy. If your sap was good during the last boil you will just have a little darker syrup which some customers prefer. I run oil so it is easier to control if things start to get thick too fast so you probably shouldn't run your arch full tilt in your case. I found at my concentrate level I have about 10 gallons of syrup left in the evaporator when I end the season, totally worth getting!

[wiam]

Do as the good Doctor. Easier with oil. Used to do it on my wood fired 2x6.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Our 2nd to last batch before finishing out the pan was LT 37. The pan contents finished out at LT 40 so perfectly good syrup. We also don't keep pulling until the sap goes bad and the sugar content is way down to below 1.5%. We were done middle of last week and I know some guys on vacuum that kept pulling whatever they could through yesterday in our area. We knew the pan contents were good, the slightly lighter syrup was a surprise though.

[TapTapTap]

Thanks for the responses. I run wood so it's challenging to do a final syrup pan boil since I can't shut and cool down quickly.
Ken

[wvfdc4]

I saw the same Craigslist ad but told myself it wasn't worth the time (need sleep) and it was time to move on to Birch. I did basically what Dr. Tim describes, but shut stopped feeding wood when I put the last of the sweet into the pan. Ended up with 6-7 gallons of near-up that I finished on propane. Worked for me though next year will be different because I will be running my own 2x4 instead of running someone else's 2x6 like I have the past couple of years.

[Ms Ellis]

Hello Maple Trader community, can you tell me how to post a question to the larger maple trader community? I have started a thread or post twice but can't find my posting. Do posts or new threads sit for a while with a moderator before they are posted?
Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this site.

Me Ellis

[DrTimPerkins]

Do posts or new threads sit for a while with a moderator before they are posted?
Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this site.

New “ Traders” cannot start threads until they are on for a while and post replies to other threads. This helps to prevent and screen out spam.

[Ms Ellis]

Thank you

Ms Ellis

[Bricklayer]

I drain my flu pan of all sweet into 5 gallon stainless milk pails.
Then fill it with permeate and fill head tank with permeate.
I set the stainless milk pails in the back pan with a spacer under them to keep water on the pans and around the pail. This keep them hot and kinda acts like a preheater.
As I’m boiling I just ladle sweet into the syrup pan at the inlet to keep the levels good. When the light goes off on the auto draw I grab a pails and slowly pour the sweet into the syrup pan at the inlet and chase the syrup out.
Works good. Have to pay attention though.
I got an extra 8-9 gallons this year chasing sweet. So it was well worth it.
Last year we tried making maple vinegar with the sweet.
It worked. But not as tasty as you would think.

[Swingpure]

Forgive my ignorance, I understand this conversation is about if you have a front and a back pan, but if you just have a single large divided pan, is the concept the same at the end of the year, that you add water instead of sap and push the gradient along?

[DrTimPerkins]

Boil it down in the pan without any sap or water addiction until the volume is low enough to put it all in a small pot you can finish on the stove or a Turkey fryer.

[SeanD]

Thanks for the responses. I run wood so it's challenging to do a final syrup pan boil since I can't shut and cool down quickly.
Ken

Challenging, but only first time or two you do it. It doesn't take much of a fire to just have the front pan boiling. Use smaller wood as you get closer to the end and the heat is much easier to control. This season end, I stopped the finishing boil a little too soon. I had the mindset of a typical shut down where my volume drops by half after I flood the pans - but since it was such a small fire, it didn't evaporate that much more after I put the last of the sweet in. It was still really light and I was very low on propane for the finisher, so I just relit a fire and fired it 2 or three times. That cut the volume way down and got me about a point heavy.

The end result of that boil was 8 gallons of delicious 30% Tc. I can't imagine selling that for $20. It's definitely worth the extra effort to try to get the last of your syrup off your pan.

[jrgagne99]

On my little rig, I take it down as low as I can using small pieces of softwood (easy to control fire that way), then drain everything out and finish it over propane. Takes a couple hours to finish it, but worth it for the 3-4 gallons of extra syrup. I also sometimes do this mid-season to recover about 25% LT, especially if there is a long freeze at that time.