Chasing the sweet--really?

[maple marc]

The season here in OH is done--I've picked up spiles and buckets and am now boiling the last of the huge final run. I'm wondering about this "chasing the sweet" I've heard and read about. Last year on my new 2x4, at the end of the season I simply drained off some of the remaining sweet and refridgerated it for use on oatmeal. This year I'm either going to finish the remainder on a propane burner or attempt to do the chase with water in my storage tank.

What do you all think about chasing the sweet on a 2x4...does it work on a small evaporator? This 2x4 seems prone to some back flow and mixing.....so I'm wondering if I might just end up with dilution. Thanks for any ideas.

Marc

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I chased the sweet out of my flue pan this year with what you described, but I did it on my last boil so I didn't have to fire up the evaporator. I pumped up about 50 or 60 gallons up in my head tank for my 2x8 drop flue and it seemed to work good. I am sure I left a little syrup back there, but it was much quicker than draining it and boiling it down on a propane burner etc, and probably got an extra 1.5 gallons of syrup out of it that I would have had to dump otherwise if I didn't chase it or boil it down outside the evaporator and it took aprox an hour.

[maplwrks]

Marc,
Does Your 2x4 Have A Flue Pan? If So There Are 2 Things You Can Do.
You Can Fill You Feed Tank With Water And Just Boil The Sap Out Of The Rig. You Will Know By The Looks Of The Bubbles When All The Sap Is Gone. The Other Thing That You Can Do Is To Empty The Flue Pan And Put The Sap Into The Syrup Pan. I Wouldn't Put It All In At One Time Though, Just A Little At A Time. You Will Need To Fill The Flue Pan With Water. This Is A Great Way To Clean The Flue Pan, While You Make Syrup. You Will Be Amazed At The Amount Of Syrup You Will Make While Doing This. Hope I Didn't Confuse You Too Much!!

[maple marc]

Yes, I have drop flue pan and syrup pan. Your ideas sound excellent, although what is the best way to drain a drop flue pan? Last year I think I tried a siphon, and it was not easy. Maybe I will enlist a friend who is a brute and we can muscle it up and out to pour/drain it.

Thanks,
Marc

[RileySugarbush]

We used a siphon in our drop flue last year. Try some half inch OD polyethylene tube so it fits down in the flues and doesn't float around.

Another idea might be a little pump that you chuck in a drill,

[325abn]

I have a 2x4 raised flue and I do what mapleworks suggested. Seems to work just fine.

[Mike Van]

I use a 1/2" siphon hose all the time on my 2x4 drop flue, you have to go down in each flue [6] to get it all out. That goes in one front section, the rest of the evap. just gets water. Works good. Just my 2 cents, but I wouldn't "wrestle" the pan up out of there with much in it - I'd be afraid of wracking the seams or some other disaster.

[maple marc]

I just realized that I can't "cork" the connections between the two pans--no valves, just a tunnel. Guess I'll just have to load the water into the tank and let it come in just like the sap would.

Marc

[mapleman3]

get yourself a small new wet vac and only use it for maple... I tape a 5/16 line on the end of the vac hose and suck it all out dry !! then just suck up some HOT water to rinse the vac hose and vac.. dry it good for next season.

[the old guy]

Marc

I Like To Do Things The "Christian Way" (Mike, That Is) When It Comes To Chasing The Sweet Out Of The Evaporator. By Adding Water To The Fill Tank After The Sap Has Gone And Just Boiling Until The "sweet" Is Gone Really Works. After A Couple Of Times You Can See The Water Chasing The Denser Sap. Sap Is Denser Than Water Making It More Unlikely To Mix As The Sugar Content Rises. It Is Similar To Trying To Mix Oil And Water. So When You Are Running Out Of Sap It Has To Be Replaced With Water And Since Mixing Is Not Likely The Water Will "chase The Sweet" All The Way Out Of The Draw Off Valve. You Might Have To Finish some Over Propane But The Amount Of Syrup You Lose Will Be Very Little.

The Old Guy

[maple marc]

I gave it a try--loaded soft water into my tank just as it ran dry of sap. After two long hours I finally drew off a pint of syrup. Then the temperature dropped quite a bit so I gave up. I think on my small 2x4 some mixing was occuring. At that point I felt I was just evaporating soft water. I drew off about two gallons of sweet for later boiling on my porch. This actually worked out better than I thought--after an hour I had almost 1.5 gallons of dark syrup.

Bottom line--chasing the sweet worked moderately for me, but I needed to finish with the corn pot at home.

Marc

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you got 1.5+ gallons out of a 2x4 drop flue, sounds like it worked pretty good.

[Russell Lampron]

I did this for the Maple Weekend yesterday and made about 3 gallons of syrup through the day. My flue pan was really sweet because of the concentrated sap from the RO machine. I didn't have to watch the evaporator as close so it made it easier to talk to the visitors.

I will drain the flue pan and start fresh there when I boil tonight. The last check I made showed that I had 3% sugar coming into the front pan when I shut down.

[Brent]

It just struck me that maybe we should keep a bit of straight sap, not put through the RO, and use it at the end to chase the sweet. Hmmmm ? One more thing to work into the logistics.

[PerrinFarm2]

Wouldn't the denser sweet get stuck in the bottoms of the flues?

I think that what i will try is blocking both sides between flue and syrup pan, draining the flue pan (we have a valve that is connected to all of the flues, and then filling the pan with water. and boiling.

-Ben

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

As hard as my evaporator boils, it won't get stuck in the bottom of the flues. The sap is so low in sugar content in the most of the flue pan, it won't be a problem. My flue pan sides are 15" above the flues and the sap jumps above the 15" sides, so that is not a problem with any syrup laying in the flues.