sweetening pans...

[Daren]

I have a shiney new evaporator and having never fired it before, I am not sure how much sap I will need to safely sweeten the pans. It is a 2x5 drop flue with 42" flue pan and 18" syrup pan. I do not know how much sap it will take up to fill the pan and then once I fire it up, how concentrated must it get to prevent freezeup? I would hate to start with too little sap and end up with sap that does not have enough sugar concentration to prevent dammage to my flues. Any imput out there? I would appreciate it. One other person who sugars told me he would not fire up with less than 125 to 150 gallons.

[Lyle]

Daren,
I have a 2x6 raised flue rig and I need about 140 to 160 gals. to sweeten the pans. As far as freezing goes, if the temps are going to dip to low teens or lower I usually drain off into 5 gal buckets and cover them untill I am ready to boil again. I don't know if it would cause any damage or not, but that way I can sleep easy and not wory about it. Hope this helps.

[Al]

Hi Darren, I agree with the 125 to 150 gallons of sap. On really cold nights I put a heat lamp in the woodbox after it has cooled down. I have never had a complete freeze up that way. Maybe a little ice on top but not all the way down

[Brent]

I went throught this question about 2 months back. We get a lot of small collections and I wanted to make sure I was going to have enough to bother firing in up.

I don't have my new baby yet, and I'm feeling like a kid on Christmas eve.
You've got yours and half the sap you need. It must be killing you. If I had a couple hundred gallons I'd bring them down for you, but we haven't drilled one tree yet. This weekend will be wild. Set it up and start tapping.

I feel for you.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

DARREN
i run a 2x5 drop flue also and yes you need 120+ to fire it up

RICH

[Daren]

Thanks everyone for the imput. Yes having only about half of what I needed was killing me by a buddy of mine who also had only about half of what he needed to sweeten his own 2x6 decided he would pool his with mine and see how Patricks evaporator would boil. We hooked up my bulk tank directly to my float box (hood not ready yet!) and fired it up. I ATE UP the sap! If your math was even close, it looks like between 25 and 30 gallons per hour. Not sure how much more the pre-heater and hood will do, but I am very happy with it. I had about 120 gallons and was just to a first draw when I had to stop fireing due to the sad reality of being out of sap. I opened the plugs and allowed it to backflow and mix throughout the evaporator to prevent freeze-up. Should be able to draw some the next time and I cant wait! Even with the deep pans I could use some splash guards. Also...the base stack seemed to be "breathing" as it kept sucking itself and "burping" back again. I had to close the draft door to keep fire in the front of the firebox. I cant believe the draw on only 12 feet of stack.