I've burnt my syrup for the first time. Do I need to clean my pan?

[Sugar Sue]

I have pulled off a couple of batches of syrup and things are going well. Untill last night. Boy was I sick to see all that waste. Like on another thread I am making syrup in my middle channels and last night I burned it. I usually draw offs are ok. Just large batches. My pan is scorched on bottom but threw in some sap quickly so it did not burn solid. Where do I go from here? Can I just flush the pans, Do I need to empty and clean the bottom? With what do I clean it. It is not stainless. After flushing, the center does not taste scorched but the bottom of the pan is black. help me
Sue

[maplwrks]

Congratulations!!! You are now a sugarmaker! I would clean it by putting some water and pan acid into it and heating it up for a while. You'll probably end up scrubbing it a little?, more like a LOT! Does your pan leak?

[davey]

Congratulations and get scrubbing. Shiny and clean equals better flavored, lighter syrup as opposed to scorched pans. Try not to use steelwool, instead opt for the scrapers and green scrubbies.

[Jerome]

Pan acid and scrubing, Have fun.

[Russell Lampron]

Use white vinegar instead of acid. Put a couple of gallons of the vinegar in the pan, add water to get it as deep as you can, build a little fire to get the water/vinigar mix hot but don't boil it. Then when it is cool enough start scrubbing with a bristle brush and drain and rinse. Don't scrub on the solder too much either. It should clean up real nice.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Do you have baffels at the end of your channels and if so are they in correctly? For me to switch drawoff sides I have to reverse the baffels side to side. Is there a restriction in your pans. Folding a scrubber sponge over a flat stick and stapling it helps with the enishiation into the ( is anybody watching me club)

[Clan Delaney]

Here's what my last burnt pot looked like.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_FwSEiH_AdHQ/SUr7Xcgl2NI/AAAAAAAAAjY/IfBFtDYNBx8/s144/P3150093.JPG
(http://picasaweb.google.com/pat.delaney/MapleSugarSeason2008#5281309893253781714)

My solution was to toss it out. You probably have a slightly larger investment in your pan. :) Time to start with the scrubbing.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Hope thats not a chamber pot. That looks like Aluminum did you ever get it clean? And could you please tell the class what it WAS that you were doing MR CLAN when this happend. It didnt just happen in a split second could you please share with us MR CLAN how things like this "Just Happen"........MMMMMMMMMM

[Clan Delaney]

It was an enameled cooking pot, and when I say I tossed it out, I wasn't just talking about the burnt syrup.

I believe at the time I was being forced, at gunpoint, to watch an episode of American Idol. I think there were handcuffs involved, possibly some terrorists, and I recall screaming "NO!! Let me go!! I can smell my syrup burning!!!!" Alas, I was too late.

Or something like that.

My setup last year had a constant slow drip of sap into the pot, but only when I was boiling. I shut it off when I was getting close to finishing a batch. I learned the same lesson when I started making beer, but somehow didn't think it applied here: Never turn your back on a pot of syrup. It's just like a 3 year old. As soon as you're not looking, it's gonna make a mess.
I thought I could sneak into the house for a few 20 minutes and warm up. I think I've successfully gotten all of my syrup burning out of my system on old, disposable pots. Now, when I move on to a real pan, I'll be all set. Um, yeah.

[3% Solution]

Sugar Sue,
Ok, now you got that out of the way.
You know what it looks like now just before, keep your eyes open.
If you have to bail sap like a crazy person!!!!!!!!
Now, get that pan cleaned and get to boiling your waisting time!!!
:-)

Dave

[maple flats]

Sugar Sue, you say it is not SS. What are your pans? If copper, the vinegar will work. If English tin I do not know but others will who worked with it in the past. If something else please let us know what the pans are and someone will answer specific to the type pans you have. The scrubing is generic but as others said do not use steel wool, or it WILL scratch. I use the green scrub pads, either by 3M or cheap copies.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The problem with a good set of pans is you have to clean them instead of tossing them. Plus the panic of having some one coming over in 10 minutes with friends to see how cool your set up. Happend to me but when they got there I was gobbing solder over a leak.

[Sugarmaker]

Sue,
Like others congratulations, First feelings are kind of dumbfounded as to how that happened so quickly even if watching it. You did all the right things. Been there done that. Yep drain the pan, of syrup and begin scrubbing. I have used vinegar, you need to triple rinse after using vinegar. Heating the water in the pan or adding hot water and vinegar solution like 1/2 gallon to 2 gallons of water per that channel and let it soak for a hour will really help speed up the process.

Let us know,

Regards,
Chris

[Bucket Head]

I'm not lecturing here. I just wanted to share a qoute I read somewhere way back when. "A watched pot never boils, a watched pan never boils over".

With that said, we will now move onto the comic relief part of this posting. The first year we made syrup, my mother let us use a large cast iron pot and a large diameter aluminum, deep dish style frying pan. It had the regular type handle on one side, and a pot lid type handle on the other so you could pick it up with two hands. It boiled great.

Well, we were approaching syrup, and had a roaring fire going. The flames were going up around the pan. We thought we were doing a heck of a stroke of business. Then we started to see the handles start to change color. Then they turned red, melted and drooped, and fell into the fire. So with no way to pull the pan off without getting burned, we watched the days worth of boiling burn up.

This all happened in a little over two minutes. We can laugh about it now, but it was the sickest feeling back then.

Everyone here can say "been there, done that"!

Steve

[MaplePancakeMan]

Buckethead... yep we've all done it. My mom let me boil on her new wolf range top... it was boiling really well and i had about 4 gallons worth of syrup i was finishing inside. I took a phone call, turned for a second boiled over caught fire and burned up not one but two burners. Took me 5 hours to clean, and a 500 dollar service call later. Those 4 gallons cost a lot of money haha.


I would clean the pan, just in case don't want any burnt taste to linger in any good syrup.