batch processing question

[RickinFarmington]

:confused:

Have my barrel arch completed and running two SS sink pans of equal size. The arch has a 12x13 fire box and a vertical wall half way back. All surfaces are fire bricked. Have a six inch outlet feeding a 8 inch stack. Also have forced air with small fan.
Initial results on first fire up had the front pan boiling like a banshee, but the back pan was barely boiling. Reduced the distance under the rear pan to an inch and a half which helped a lot. Will reduce it more and hope for better boil on the rear pan.

My question is this: What actually determines which pan I should use as the syrup pan relative to the different boiling rates of the two pans.

Second question: Is there a secret to getting a siphon system to work? Mine is a simple 1/2 inch copper loop betweenthe two pans. Works good under no boil conditions. Donot want to connect the two pans for reasons of pour off at the end of the boil.

thanks Rick

[Haynes Forest Products]

The siphon wont work with air bubbles coming from the boiling sap. If you look at the old rigs that used siphon tubes they were out side the pans in the transfer boxes that didnt have the bubbles.

[peacemaker]

coffee can and a pin hole and a big laddle

[RileySugarbush]

In my old setup of four steam table pans, I dribbled sap into the back one and ladled progressively forward to finish on the front one. The last few years, the back two pans had drop flue tubes.

[RickinFarmington]

Thanks for your inputs. Having a blast boiling water and tweaking my system. Last night I closed up the gap under the rear pan and the pan did boil better, but nothing compared to the front pan. I also changed out the small blower for my forced air and went to a small leaf blower. Put a damper in the stack as well, so I should have good control over my heat. So I still have the same question:

Which pan should I be calling my final pan?

Also I punched a pee hole into a 8x12 SS flat pan, suspended it over the front pan and it works very well as a pre heater pan.

Another quesstion: is the small amount of condensation coming off the pan a need for concern, or does the advantage of preheating offset the additional water going back in?

Sorry to bombard you with all these questions, but I want to have my rig working a good as I can before I start putting the sap to it.

Thanks

[Clan Delaney]

Thanks for your inputs. Having a blast boiling water and tweaking my system. Last night I closed up the gap under the rear pan and the pan did boil better, but nothing compared to the front pan. I also changed out the small blower for my forced air and went to a small leaf blower. Put a damper in the stack as well, so I should have good control over my heat. So I still have the same question:

Which pan should I be calling my final pan?

Also I punched a pee hole into a 8x12 SS flat pan, suspended it over the front pan and it works very well as a pre heater pan.

Another quesstion: is the small amount of condensation coming off the pan a need for concern, or does the advantage of preheating offset the additional water going back in?

Sorry to bombard you with all these questions, but I want to have my rig working a good as I can before I start putting the sap to it.

Thanks

I'd say that the increase you get for the pre-heater pan offsets the few drips coming off it's bottom... just a gut feeling. If you angled the pre-heater pan slightly, you could get that condensation to just run down and drip off the end of the evap?

[RileySugarbush]

The heat required to re-evaporate each drop could warm 5 to 10 drops from 32F to 212F. Don't let them drip back in!

[peacemaker]

rick run your feader tube around your stack as a preheater ...