If you're running steam pans....

[Groves]

How deep do you run the sap? or does it matter?

At this point, I'm totally heating the sides as well, so does that mean I should run it full to avoid the scorching?

Also, the only reason I'm letting the full 6" pan down into the fire is because the lip is what supports it. Would it work to just use a 2" steam table pan and just put a 6" inside of it? or an aluminum 6" liner sitting in the 2" SS pan?

so many questions. I'm a batch guy, obviously. We're getting ready for boil number 2 this weekend. Yes, we hold the sap for a while.

I hope I recognize stringy and ropey when I see it. I'll let my taste buds be my guide, I guess.

[SeanD]

You are going to get scorching no matter what, so don't worry about that. Sap will splash up and scorch no matter how deep it is. Feel free to run it deep because you are getting plenty of heat from the fire on five sides as opposed to just one side that flat pans offer. It doesn't take a whole lot of fire to keep a full steam pan boiling. You essentially have one big drop flue, so go as deep as you can without it splashing out the top.

Definitely do not set your 6" into a 2" over the fire. What keeps that thin SS pan from crumpling up like tinfoil and falling into the fire is the sap. If you put an empty pan (even with another nested in it) over the fire it will be gone before you know it.

I use a combo of a flat pan and two steam pans. The steam pans are where all the action is. They rip when the flat pan is just barely to a boil.

Good luck,
Sean

[emo]

I use 6" pans set down in block arch, with the lip of the pans is holding them up. I only keep about 1-1/2" to 2" of sap in the pans at a time and it is not hard to keep them at a good boil. I have 3 pans, beacuse of the fire crate inside, the first pan never quite boils, but pans 2 and 3 boil well. I finda use the first pan as a heater, then use a soup ladle to re-fill the other 2 pans. I keep the sap in pans 2 and 3 deeper than ladle scoop. I boil off about 2 to 2-1/2 gph.

[Grizz747]

Is pan 1 in front by the door or in back by the chimney?

[SeanD]

Emo,

You should be getting that boil rate out of one pan alone. With three pans you have almost 6 square feet of surface area, plus it's dropped into the box. Something doesn't sound right.

Do you have the front closed up with a door? You can also try to slope the arch up toward your stack with rocks, bricks, sand, etc.

Sean