Running Temp???

[325abn]

What temp do you like to run your syrup pan at between draw offs?

[Fred Henderson]

I want mine boiling hard. I do not use a finishing pan. I finish in the evaporator. I do run my stack temp at 500 drg, that thing just purres along so sweetly.

[325abn]

I too finish on the evaporator. Today I am running the syrup section at 216 -218 between draw offs. The level is about 1.5 - 2" .

[danno]

I'm interested what others have to say on this one.

I ususally don't hit syrup in my evap until 220. If I start drawing at 220, I can ususally draw only a quart or two and I like bigger draws. I usually start at 221 and pull of 2 or 3 gallons, but on a couple of draws the other night, started at 221 but went all the way to 230 during the draw before cooling back down. I continue the draw to thin it back to syrup. Draws were close to 5 gallons with 2 hours between draws.

I don't like seeing the temps get to 230. Syrup pan is a little crazy at that point.

[Brian Ryther]

I also draw at 220, but I am constantly checking with the hydrometer. The syrup pan can run at 219 for twenty minuites befor making the last step to 220. When I am drawing off I also watch the therometer, about 30 seconds after I see the temp fall back to 219 I will loose density. When I draw I begin a little heavy, by the time I finish I am just a little on the light side.

[royalmaple]

I might be missing something but temp between draws is going to be what ever it happens to be at based on the heat of the fire and when it comes back up to syrup time to draw off again.

So on my 0-7 thermometer, Say syrup is 7 tonight, then at 7 I open the valve might go to 8 or 9 or stay right at 7, then as it falls once I've gotten the draw entirely I close the valve at the target number. In this example 7. Then the pan might go to 2-3 and stay there till the next time it creeps back up to 7 off to the races again.

[Fred Henderson]

I know that my thermometer is not accurate, so I only us it as a guide, I make syrup according to my hydrometer. I make it on the heavy side and thin in the canner.Today in 3 hours I made 12 gals and burned 1/3 face cord (18 inch) of wood. The sap is running really sweet this season. Syruping is a great hobby.

[PATheron]

Danno- Im no expert but this has been my experiance this year. I too had the same thing happen with the temp going way too high on some draws. Now, Im running concentrate that is 8- 11% depending on my mood. My biggest challenge is the first draw. The syrup mixes in the pan, you know the drill. We were doing fine then one day after wed made quite a lot of syrup we took the first draw and it went way high. Scarred the crap out of us. Well, we got through it and made syrup that night and it was fine only thing was the draws were real small and frequent. Next morning we found stuff floating in the syrup and it was layers of sugar sand that was a little burnt on the one side. Didnt seem to hurt a thing but when the sand gets real thick the syrup wont flow good and you can get into trouble. Weve had a lot of sugar sand but we are processing a lot of sap too so probly normal. We try now to keep the syrup pan pretty clean best we can of the sand. Also when we take the first draw we are ready with a pot of hot sap and we will pour it right into the syrup pan if we have too to keep the temp down. Also we will take the skimmer and push the sap away from the syrup pan float towards the syrup letting in sap to dilute the first part of the syrup pan. Lastly dad found that we do better running the syrup pan a little deeper now to get a nicer draw when we take off. Hope this helps. Theron

[Russell Lampron]

My evaporator works like Matts does. Once I get the gradient up I can draw off about every 10 minutes. To do that though I have to split my wood like kindling and fire fast and often. Normally it takes about 20 minutes between draws and I adjust my thermometer so that I draw off at 7. I make an average of 2 gallons of quality product an hour.

[PATheron]

Russ- We normally, if everything is working right , dont draw off as frequent but our draws are pretty large. We usually draw maybe 2 to 3 times an hour but were getting probly 8 gallons per hour Id say. Were using bigger wood though but dad kind of likes it that way. We just stick a bunch in there and he doesnt have to fire so often. It might not be optimum but it works for us and as long as dad is happy Im happy. Theee(bigsapzar)oon

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

Not all the time but a couple of times this year I've had it get high on me. Sometimes syrup is at 6 sometimes at 7. if it's at 6 I'll have to start drawing at about 5-5.5, then it creeps up to 6 and usually will stay there, but not everytime. but it definately has been a little bit different this year than the past for me. Oh, I've also been running 8-11% on a 2.5x8, and am making between 6-10 gals/hr, depending on firing and sugar content. But one thing that has helped keep my fire up in temp is a digital stack temp right next to my wood pile. It allows me to fire more consistent and depending on what wood goes in will depend on firing intervals. when things are running smooth I can keep almost a constant draw. but when the syrup temp goes high, then low and not consistent it makes syrup in bigger batches.....roughly 2 gals/15 min. and we also have had awful sugar sand this year. I'm averaging 20 gals/syrup pan cleaning, but I have got up around 50 gals once this year.

[danno]

How do you know when the syrup pan is ready for cleaing?

I've noticed that regularly switching draw off sides has helped with the sugar sand. It is bad.

What weird about temps reaching those high temps - I'll start drawing at 221 and it will gradually build to 229-230 and then suddenly drop to 220 in an instant. Goes up gradually, but then drops like a rock. Weird.

[Brent]

We've only done 3 boils on our new Phaneuf evap and it has some quirks. The thermometer appears to have and unusual angle going thru the syrup pan wall and other Phaneuf owners have commented on it here.

We have a Ystec auto draw off that we are using as a monitor only. The valve sits on a shelf beside the evap while the temp probe sets off the alarm.
The temp probe is barometric compensated. The very first batch we did almost boiled over the pan. I had set it for 7 degrees above the compensated water boil temp. BIG mistake. Now we have it set 4.9 to 5.1 degrees above the water point. The last few days that has been 210.4 to 210.7 so we set about 215.5 and even at that we are coming off a little thick. When the alarm goes off I draw one Acu-cup, let it warm the cup then draw a second to check with the hydrometer. It's always about 1 to 2 deg Brix thick. We only draw one or two of the Acu-cups at a time. That seems to happen about every 10 minutes. But that time is also going down because we are starting to use the Merlin $400 RO system and feed sweeter sap.

[MaplePancakeMan]

I switched my thermometer to a digital one on my Phaneuf and it seems to work much better.

[Dave Puhl]

I have a 2x6 and this year I just started to use a refracometer and I have a didgital temp with a probe that has a 15 inch or so cable...bought at Menards for 14 bucks.... that I cloths pin to the syrup pan..I draw off at 219 + but the size of a pencil or less and I believe it keeps the gradiant going smooth..yes the temp will jump around some if there is unfinshed syrup swirling in there.. we have a timer for fireing set at 10 min. and the wood is split fine