Flue Pan& Flat Pan

[ryan marquette]

Has anyone ever ran a flat pan with a flue pan? I am going to run a 3x7 flue with my old 30 x 48 flat pan for this year. I need to be able to cook more sap per hour, even if I have to finish it on gas. Can I get a draw off without partitions? I am going to leave the pan hang off the arch a foot on one side & the sap from the flue pan will enter there. I will draw off from other side.

[brookledge]

I think you will find that if you have your flat pan hanging out a foot over the arch, #1 it won't boil outside the arch and #2 it will be extremely dificult to draw off from the side that is hanging over because it will be cooler. That being said you would have to draw off in batches and finish it seperately.
If the flat pan had even one divider in it it would be alot easier to draw off syrup fairly close to being done but without one the sap coming in from the flue pan can keep mixing with everything in the flat pan.
Keith

[Bucket Head]

Ryan,

Your useing the flat pan as your "syrup" pan? Or are you using the two pans along with a syrup pan? Just wondering.

I don't think you will be able to draw off the way your describing. Without partitions, the incoming sap, almost syrup, and syrup will be mixing all the time. So you won't really have syrup concentrated at the draw off side.

I think your going to have to do it like we used to before I modified the pans. We just kept batching it. We kept adding sap to the rear pan, while only adding to the front pan with what was in the rear pan. Eventually we would have a large batch of syrup up front. We would then draw most of it off, and then start the process again.

Steve

[ryan marquette]

Bucket Head,
Yes I am using the flat pan for syrup pan. I know the flat pan is not going to boil the greatest so my next question is, is it possible to cook the sap too far in the flue pan? I was going to put some partitions in but I am running out of time, I'm just finishing up my arch, and the wife took the checkbook away.