new 1/2 pint questions...

[johnallin]

Hi all,

I'm also new here. This will be my third season and just finished setting up a new Leader 1/2 pint.

This is big for me... as my first year was "in the woods" hovering over some cinder blocks under a roasting pan, snapping wood over my knee. Last year was a small box stove with a 12" X 18" home made flat pan. I am not sure what to expect or look out for with the 1/2 pint. I've got loads of firewood ready, 20 sugar maples tapped with lots more here if I need more sap. Tapped Sunday and they are all running great and I plan on boiling later this week.

One question I have is how much should I expect to draw off and when, after I reach temp and how often after that. I have zero experience with anything other than flat pans and small ( to me ) sources of fire.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. This is a great site and I just recently stumbled onto it.

Thanks for any help.
John Allin - N.E. Ohio

[mapleman3]

I used to have a "half pint"and thats what it means.. about a half pint of syrup/hour drawoff.. which really isnt bad for a small evaporator.. now if you tweak it, add a blower to it(mine was through the front bottom I'm sure I have pics of it somewhere) and maybe set up a preheater of somesort and you may crank out the syrup !! it's a fun little rig, you will enjoy it a lot :)

[skinny78]

I have used my half pint for two seasons now. I have a thermometer at the draw off and usually draw when it hits 210 to 215 deg. Just draw for a couple of seconds and wait a minute to see if the temp drops, if it doesn't draw more. It seem when you shut it down the syrup and sap back mixes and it takes awhile to make syrup next time you start, but when it does finally get there you have to draw a lot off to keep the temp down. I usually turn the pan before restarting each time to keep the niter buildup down. Like Jim said there are lots of modifications you can make to it. I added a blower, put rope gasket around the door, insulated the door, made a better latch for the door, welded all the seams up to keep the smoke from leaking out, welded around the door, welded stiffeners around and across the cast front to keep it from warping, moved the reservoir pan back off the evaporator pan to keep the condensation from dripping back in, and installed a float valve. I get about 9 gallon per hour evaporation now. I have some pictures of it in my photobucket album, I will be adding more in the next few days.

[johnallin]

This is great information, Thanks to both of you. As I mentioned, this is a "cadilac" compared to where I've been so far..

[Uncle Tucker]

DID SOMEONE SAY HALF PINT??
That was my first evaporator I bought. I did the old pan over a fire that helped make my decision to a half pint. That stove was so much fun to run. You too will do modifications to it. As far as how much syrup it will make at a time, for me it was 1 hydrometer cup every ½ an hour. I also put 2 thermometer ports and that helps for draw offs. The thing to remember is to split your wood small. I split every thing bigger than a 2x4 board. I have a lot of pictures of mine. If you have any questions let me know.

[johnallin]

Tucker,
Did you mount your thermometers through the side of the pan near the draw off valve? What means did you use to mount them? I have a Leader Sap thermometer with 1/4" npt threads and an looking for the best way to install it, and another, in the pan. Any suggestions would help.

Thanks
John Allin

[MaineMapleDave]

I've been using a 1/2 pint since '97 ('96 was a roasting pan on the stove, producing a few ounces a day).

I'm not sure what everyone else is doing, but I have NEVER drawn off syrup, or even near-syrup directly from the evaporator. Never. It usually takes me about 4 hours of boiling to be able to draw off what I call "concentrate" (about a gallon at a time every couple of hours) to then finish in the propane finishing rig.

I fire every 15 minutes, and add sap at that time. I now have a new arch, but an old pan with 4 partitions, not 3 like the new ones. When I add sap, I add it from the old-style preheater, with the copper pipe that is submerged in the first partition. The whole pan will be boiling evenly, and I'll add sap until the first partition is not boiling at all. That usually raises the level across the pan from about 1/2" to 1", and it take a couple of hours for a color gradient to be noticeable from partition to partition.

I keep the sap depth at about 1", which is pretty safe for the 15 minute firings.

Even with the new arch, if I start the day with the 65-gallon sap tank full, I'll boil for 8 hours to have a pan filled with about 3 gallons of concentrate, with maybe a couple more drawn off into the finisher.

I had the old style arch rigged up with a blower, and couldn't break about 5 GHP evaporation rate. People at Leader told me that even with the new arch, properly bricked, good wood, good combustion, 7 to maybe 8 GPH is the tops to expect, flat pan and all.

I am currently looking at ways to add the old blower to the new arch, so will be perusing skinny78's photobucket page for ideas!!!

It's all good.

[Harken]

Mathew,
Where did you find your float valve ? Is it brass ?

Ken

[maplekid]

johnallin- were are you located in northeast ohio?

[Uncle Tucker]

When I had my half pint I would light the fire and try to get coals as fast as I could, the best heat came from the coals I found. I would add good dry wood every 4 minutes, only 3 or 4 small pieces. I would have no wood bigger than a 2x4 or it would be split smaller.
As far as sap depth I tried for ½ to ¾ of an inch (be careful). You should try to constantly add sap to the pan so you don’t get a sloshing affect and back mixing (it really affects the gradient). It took about 6 to 8 hours of boiling the first run to sweeten the pans but after that, you will draw off every ½ hour. I found if you draw off small amounts of syrup, you don’t have to finish off ether.
As far as the thermometers I drilled holes in the pan and used J-Weld, if I were to do it again I would have ports welded in.

[skinny78]

Harken,

The float valve came from a plumbing supply house. It is a brass Watts brand.

MaineMapleDave,

I looked at you pictures. Do you get a good boil in the back of the pan? It looks like the wall in the center of the arch need to be taller. Mine is within 2" of the pan or less, and it boils front to rear. I also constantly add sap and that section boils all the way up to the float. I have found that you don't want to do anything to cause back mixing. It will mess up the natural flow of high concentration sap toward the draw off. I don't skim, stir, or put anything in the pan unless absolutely necessary. I always leave the pan with sap in it and it run about 1 1/4" deep. My pan is a little warped and any shallower causes syrup to burn in high spots. I draw off concentration that is near syrup, within a couple brix then finish it in batches of three gallons and run it through my filter canner unit. If you need more pictures or have more questions just ask.

[MaineMapleDave]

Hi Matt-
I get excellent boil fully across the pan from side to side and corner to corner--much more even than with the old arch. I followed Leader's bricking instructions pretty closely, except I haven't mortared in anything except around the collar.

I rented a tile cutter and have everything in a very tight dry fit--I had anticipated some need for fiddling with it, but will mud things up this year, I think.

The way I add sap doesn't really cause any mixing--you can literally watch the new sap PUSH the boiling sap along, and see the color gradient develop within about an hour and a half. That part always seems like magic to me........

[johnallin]

Maplekid, We're in lake county up near the lake.

[musicfreak46290]

Our half-pint is a workhorse thats for sure. Its been tweaked by the previous owner and we had to make some adjustments. With your new one, it will take time to find out what works for you and what doesn't. We use a plastic/brass float valve in a side box to keep the sap level in check. It works really well. I will post pictures in case I've confused or lost anyone. Half-pints work great for small sugarers like us. They can take more than you think though. Best of luck this year.

Shayne

[FoxCobbler]

Boiling on a Half-Pint is just plain fun. Similar to driving an old VW Bug with that little stick shift that could make you feel like a king at 50 miles an hour. The Half-Pint makes you feel like a king at 6 Gph.

FC