Explain divided pans

[mnguy]

I am pretty new to making syrup. I had a pan made (3x3) but did not have any dividers added to it. Would some one be kind enough to explain how the divided pans work? Should I have dividers added to the pan I had made?

Thanks,

Mike

[ackerman75]

mnguy,
When you add the dividers you will be able to drawoff syrup more often, without dividers all you can do is make a batch and then start over. If you put in two dividers this will make three chambers, you will have to trickle new sap into the end of the first chamber and it will work its way through the chambers and end up at the drawoff valve. The new sap comming in will push the sap that is closer to syrup along, so the sap by the drawoff valve will be closest to being syrup. You will have to fill you pan to about two inches to start, when it cooks down to about 1 1/2 inches start trickling new sap in to maintain 1 1/2 inches in your pan, so when you start you will want to trickle new sap in at all times to keep pushing your sap syrup to the drawoff valve. My dividers are 6" tall and at the end of the divider where you want to go from one chamber to the next I cut out the bottom corner of the divider, went 3" each way from the corner, connect the marks and cut. This helps in judging the depth of sap in the pan, knowing the cutout in the divider is three inches tall. Hope this helps.

[ackerman75]

mnguy,
I should also add that if you only tap a few trees I would not put in dividers because you always need sap ahead to keep trickling in. I would say with your 3 x 3 pan you should have 40 or more taps if you want to put in dividers.

[Big_Eddy]

All depends on how many trees you have tapped. A 3x3 pan in batch mode will hold about 8 litres or 2 gals of finished syrup when it is 1cm deep. That means you will need about 80 gals of sap to make a batch, and at a boil rate of about 6 gals per hour (flat pan) you're looking at a whole day's stoking to get there. You can't realistically run any less per batch, as 1cm is as shallow as won't burn, even if you're just coasting down the last bit on coals and embers. If you have less sap you have to take off early and finish in a smaller pot. Do you have enough trees to collect up 80 gals sap before it goes off?

With a divided pan - a gradient will develop over time, and after the first ~40 gals of sap, you may be able to draw off 1/2 gal of syrup, with another 1/2 gal more for every 20 gals of sap evaporated. Most people shut down for the day leaving the pan full (sweet), and start up again from the sweetened state so really only need 20-40 gals sap for another boil.

I do 100 trees in a 2x3 flat pan - 60 gals of sap before I'll start a batch, batches of up to 120 gals sap depending on how much I have. Pushing the limit for that size pan - I know - one of these days I'll build a proper evaporator.

[mnguy]

Thanks for the info guys. I am tapping 30 trees this year and maybe jumped the gun with this pan. I have my old pan (smaller) around that I have used in the past that is smaller.