SS sink pans.

[RickinFarmington]

Read the Backyard Sugaring book and charged into stage one of my sugarin hobby. Have completed a barrel arch and modified stainless steel sink pans. I have not read of anyone using SS sinks as pans, but after cutting the double sink into two 15x18 inch pans and welding a cover plate over the drain holes, they look like a workable solution.
Question now is since the bottoms are slightly rounded, do I sit them flat on the arch or drop them down into the arch somewhat? I have acess to steel fabrication shop, so I can do any kind of cutting and welding. I would fabricate a custon SS pan, but the cost of the SS does not fit with the low cost approach I am using.
Would be happy to hear from anyone that has advice.

RickinFarmington

[maplehound]

The biggest problem I see with your SS sink is that it is rounded. You need to run them about an inch deeper than the highest that the flames will touch. If you drop the sink down in, you will be running to deep for an efficiant boil. If you rest them on top, you may not have enough surrface area contacting flame for a good boil.

[RileySugarbush]

I would drop them down in for maximum surface area. You will get splashing and burning at the sap level, but the syrup will be great after filtering and you can clean them up after the season with diluted muriatic acid from the hardware store. I boiled like that for years and made some of the best syrup I ever tasted. If you set them on top you will evaporate at about half the rate.

[TDVT]

I looked at SS sinks but came to the conclusion that they were too much work when there are other cheap alternatives available, namely Steam Table Pans. They are cheaper then SS sinks, more square & don't have any holes in the bottom.

http://www.vollrathco.com/images/catalog/product/4472.jpg

I've used some for a few years & the Vollrath Super Pan II seems to be the best.

There's now a double-size Super Pan 3 that's 21"X25"X8"H, which I haven't seen. Nearly a proper size finishing pan!

[RickinFarmington]

Thanks for the replies regarding my SS sink pans. I put about four hours into getting them ready, but the large steam table pans may in the future. I may well decide to fabricate a large 18x34 single SS pan, but now I have an opertional question. What would be the better setup, a single large pan, or two smaller pans??

Since I am retired, I have plenty of time to boil all week. With the two pan set up, could I not take the front pan close to finished syrup, them move the back pan to the front while I dump the front pan? Then refill the back pan with new sap. All this activity in attempt to keep the process going. The two pans are exactly the same size.

If I fabricated the larger single pan with several dividers and a draw off valve, can the process be a continuous operation?
Hope I am not overloading the thread with too many questions.

RickinFarmington

[RileySugarbush]

There are never too many questions here!

I ran many years with two, then three and finally four steam table pans in a row. I used the back pans as sap pans and ladled forward as necessary, with a pot feeding sap to the back pans. It worked great. I never did it, but now know that I could have just stopped for the day and covered everything up until I was ready to start up again, just like a full blown evaporator. As it was, I would run a big batch for one day and end up with everything in the front pan, finally pouring it off and finishing in the kitchen. You can go a long way and have a lot of fun with steam table pans on a block arch.

See some of my old set up at:

http://web.mac.com/jabushey/iWeb/Riley%20Retreat/Sugaring%202006.html

[lpakiz]

Hello,
I've said it several times here before, but I will say it again.
The overwrap (outside skin) of a SS semi trailer tanker is great material. It is applied to the trailer in 14 to 17 foot bands 4 feet wide. Find a place that repairs them and ask if they have damaged sections of overwrap that are usable. Usually there are several remnants available at our local repairer.
Larry

[WF MASON]

Rick, you could measure down 5-6 inches from the top and cut the bottom section off and cap it flat. Grinding off the black tar on the underside of the sink before welding on the bottom is the hard part. on June 27-29 the sugarhouse at Farmington fairground is open(and in your backyard) and selling raffle tickets on a hobby evaporator they will have there, take your cash and take a chance to win,you might get some ideas by looking at it, you may not need to use the sink this year.
Goodluck

[RickinFarmington]

Thanks for another input to my quest in converting a SS sink. Have the beast pretty much done, but your suggestion of squaring off the bottom is a good one. Carb cleaner took the black tar off in a jiffy. The steam table pans are probably the cheapest way to go, but I suspect I will end up fabricating a proper flat SS pan with dividers and a draw off valve.
I have visited the sugar house over at the fair grounds and drooled over the Mason evaporators. I bought my ten tickets last year, but I was not the lucky winner. I will be there again in a couple of weeks to buy more tickets.
For the cost of a fuel oil fill up, I could just buy a new evaporator. Just got to close up the house for a month and camp on a south Florida beach and come back to a new evaporator. Thanks and see you at the fair grounds.

Rick

[TapME]

rick; Nice to see someone else who is using what is around. We did that for 3 years till we got a great deal on a set of pans. My 3rd one was a old kitchen sink that was 22'' wide and 60'' long, it made a great 22x48 pan with 2 dividers. If you get a chance post some pics, and have fun.

[TDVT]

If anyone is interested in steam table pans, this guy has had boxes of 6 up for auction for a month or two. I'm not sure if he will have more but they're a great deal if he does.

6" deep steam table pans (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120269854683&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fse arch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D 120269854683%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1)

[ronr]

I used cut up sinks on my home built barrel rig last year. They worked well. As far as mounting them I made a frame around the top of my arch that fit the outside of the pan snugly about 2 inches above the bottom of the pans. I welded tabs on the outside of the pans to keep them at this level. This way they sit down into the arch, I just keep the sap above the tab level so the sides don't burn. I run it 3 -4 inches deep. Where the pans sit in the arch I sealed with pink fiberglass stuffed into the gaps, working on better ideas in this area. It worked ok but was a pain to do each time I had the pans out.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii116/shaper_nut/Maple%20Syrup%20Evap/DSCF2717-1.jpg

[PeddlerLakeSapper]

Does anyone have an answer to one of RickInFarmingtos's original question?

If I fabricated the larger single pan with several dividers and a draw off valve, can the process be a continuous operation?


I have built a single 2X4 pan that has a divided front section that is 18"X24". It is continous flow into the front pan through one corner. The front pan has 3 dividers, and I will only draw off of one side. I will have a float box on the rear section to control the sap level in the pan. Does anyone see any problems with this being used as a continous operation?
Also, with no way to isolate the front pan from the back pan will the sap and near surup mix. Would it be better to drain and start over for each boil?

Sorry for getting carried away with questions.

Thanks...Dave K.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I dont see a problem from what you describe. I dont think there is any rule that says evaporators have to so and so size to have dividers. If you took a 28 foot long gutter and put a float box at one end and a draw off at the other you would have continous flow evaporator. Now put little dividers every 7 feet with isolator valves and you now have a long funny looking evaporator that works just like my 3x7 fluepan.The thing that confuses me is you say that you cant isolate the two pans. How are the conected? why cant you block it off? why cant you put a rubber stopper in pass thru when you shut down?
Just please oh please make sure that the little corks you use to block off the pans are food grade LOL

[Russell Lampron]

PeddlerLakeSapper,

Yes it can.

[RickinFarmington]

Even fthough I have yet to boil my first ounce of sap on my dual SS sink pan evaporator, I am thinking of my next pan upgrade for my barrel arch system.

The question is in terms of evaporation rate increase: Would going from my two pan system to a single pan system with dividers, really have any effect on increasing my evaporation rate. From what I am learning on this site, it appears the next step would have to include raised or drop flues to up the surface area. Is this thinking correct??
While I am a pretty good fabricator, building up a raised flue pan looks to be a challenging task. Since my barrel arch sizes up at 19 x 32, I doubt I could ever find a pan already made.
OH Man, this sugarin is starting to consume my brain!!

[Russell Lampron]

Rick

A single pan will give you more surface area exposed to the fire but the evaporation rate increase may not be noticeable on a pan that small. With properly spaced and notched dividers it will work like the front pan of a big evaporator. Raw sap goes in at the very back section of the pan and zig zags to the front section. As the gradient builds in the pan the sweeter stuff will be pushed to the front where eventually it will be dense enough to draw off as syrup.

[TapME]

I did that for two years if I get a chance I will post a pic of my old pan. And Yes you can but you better watch it real close for it can get away real quick.

[RileySugarbush]

You could make one of your pans into a drop tube evaporator. Much easier than a normal drop flue.

[Gary R]

PeddlerLakeSapper,

Too expand on Russ' answer, when you run out of sap, you "chase the sweet" with water (so I've read). I have yet to do that. It seems tricky to draw off syrup on a small evaporator. I boiled it down close to syrup, dumped it into a pot, then finished on a turkey fryer.

[RickinFarmington]

John Bushey,

Could elaborate on the contruction of your drop flues on the SS sink pan? Looks like something the devil created and is R rated.

Any figures on what it does for the evaporation rate?

tks, Rick

[RickinFarmington]

I guess I am trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear, but I am now wondering if there is a neat way to move sap from the rear pan to the front pan without spooning it. I thought of connecting the two pans together via a valve, but but that would then require a draw off valve be added, which would be difficult to do given the rounded bottoms of the sink pans.
Would some sort of siphon work, if the rear pan were set higher than the front pan? Thanks again for all the help this site provide us first timers.

Rick

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If the pans were level and you could have a connection pipe to connect them together 1/2" to 1" off of the floor of the pans, then the pans would maintain the same level and as the level in the front pan dropped, the rear pan would feed it more sap. You can buy brash quick couplers at a hardware store or Lowes or Home Depot. That is the way I connect and disconnect my preheater. I have a 3/4" preheater and on the outside of the hood, I have a 3/4" brash quickconnect for the inflowing and outflowing sap.

What I am referring to is a 3/4" thread male that is soldered on one side and the other side is a large 3/4" female brass nut. It takes about 5 seconds to disconnect them and no teflon or anything like that is require and it is leak free even with very high head pressure.

I bought these 2 or 3 years ago and they were aprox $ 6 to $ 7 for a set at Lowes which included the mail and female. They may be a touch more now, but do a very nice job and should last forever.