Questions about pans?

[Diezeldog]

Hey guys! I'm fairly new at this been doin' it for about four years.
I have a barrel stove with a 20"x24" pan with 1 divider. I make about 4 gallons per year. It takes about a month, seems like forever. But, I love it.
My question Is do you really need to have a back pan or can I just use a bigger stainless pan? Why I ask is that a friend just gave me a pan. I think it's like maybe 36"x48" with dividers all stainless. Do i need to run a back pan on this or can I just use this on a homemade arch?
People advertise sryup pans of all different sizes and I don't understand if they have a certain place on a rig or what? Some say they are for syrup some say they are for presyrup does it really make a difference? This one was free and needs to be welded on 1 seem, but I know a guy. Anyhow any info would be great. Thanks!

[tessiersfarm]

The only advantage to multiple pans is more surface area and lighter syrup although dividers in a single pan will do the same thing. The only difference is when you get into flued pans, you can not finish on a flued pan. As far as flat pans go the more surface the faster you boil.

My experience has been that when you get a bigger pan to increase boiling rate you increase taps proportionally so the only thing that changes is how much syrup you make. The time stays constant, as in all the time available.

[StewieSugar]

... a friend just gave me a pan. I think it's like maybe 36"x48" with dividers all stainless.

It looks you're already doing something like this, but one challenge I ran into with a single large pan is keeping enough fluid in it such that it doesn't burn, particularly with a relatively small operation. With a 36 x 48 pan, one inch of syrup is 7.5 gallons (231 cubic inches per gallon), which is more syrup than you make in the entire year.

When making a few pints/quarts in my operation, it's great to use the large pan (19" by 51") to get the quick evap, but I then need to transfer the concentrated sap to a turkey fryer for finishing. If I had a second smaller pan, that would be better, but I only have the one large pan.

One hurdle I'm still struggling with, though, is removing the concentrated sap from the large pan without letting the pan burn. Right now, I physically lift/remove the large pan from the arch (which is hot, heavy, and bulky) and set it on the ground before I pour out the sap. However, I cannot think of a better way of not letting the empty pan burn when the sap is drained. How do folks get around this? Can I drain the sap into the turkey fryer, leave the large pan on the arch for a minute or two, then pour water into the pan without problems?

I'm using a turkey fryer Diezeldog is apparently doing, but I would think the problem exists for dual-pans as well. How do folks empty one pan (the flue pan) into the finishing pan without letting the flue pan burn? How much time can you let a pan go dry while still on the arch before things get nasty?

[PerryW]

Assuming your 3 ft x 4 ft stainless pan is flat, you can certainly build an arch and boil on it.

But even though there are dividers in your pan, the pan sections are connected together so it will work like one big pan, and you will have to finish your syrup on your kitchen stove.

[birdmancf]

StewieSugar,
The only options I see if you don't want to have to move the pan is to douse the fire with water or snow, or let the fire box cool before drawing off. Both sound easier and safer than moving around a large pan full of boiling hot liquid.
Chris

[MapleME]

Stewie, Im in the same boat as you- doing batch's on a flat pan. I leave enough time so I dont burn the syrup- actually last weekend I got to where I thought I wanted to drain the entire batch to the finisher, and opened the arch door and shoveled the coals out on to the snow. This killed the fire and boil and started things cooling down. we then poured off into a pail. Once in the pail, I turned the pan so it was laying across the arch, so everything started to cool very quick. the other option is to kill the fire and pour off, and shovel some snow or water in to the pan which will steam off while everything cools. Then you can clean your pan with it, and let it cool and your ready to start over. Dont let batch boiling scare you, its what a good number of us do. MapleME

[lpakiz]

Here's what I do with a 2X3 foot pan. I boil off about 55-75 gallons or so of sap. When this cooks down to about syrup, I watch very carefully. At the right moment, I slid the pan off the arch onto a couple pipes I have mounted cross-wise just under the pan (thru the sides of the arch). This stops the cooking immediately.The pipes are parralell to each other about 18-20 inches apart. There is only about an inch or less of liquid at this point. Then I swivel the pan 45 degrees on the pipes and lift the corner nearest the fire. This also drops the opposite corner lower. My wife (with welders gloves) stands by to re-adjust the "catch pail" if necessary, which is a 20 qt. stock pot. If re-adjustment is needed, I stop pouring until that is done. Syrup pours cleanly out the corner of the pan.. I leave the pan off to the side on the pipes and let the fire burn out....

[Diezeldog]

Assuming your 3 ft x 4 ft stainless pan is flat, you can certainly build an arch and boil on it.

But even though there are dividers in your pan, the pan sections are connected together so it will work like one big pan, and you will have to finish your syrup on your kitchen stove.

So in short what you are saying is if I want to finish syrup in this pan I have to have another pan for pre syrup. Which is why the big rigs have back pans. Is that right?
Also I have access to 1500 taps at my dads and my next door nieghbor has about 4500 to 5000 taps that I could possibly obtain within the next 2 or 3 years. A far cry from 22 this year. I'm hoping I could get set up with a bigger rig in 3 to 4 years. I'm trying to stay small till I can figure out what the heck I'm doing. So far that hasn't been very difficult.
Thanks for the info.

[Stickey]

So in short what you are saying is if I want to finish syrup in this pan I have to have another pan for pre syrup. Which is why the big rigs have back pans. Is that right?

I think the purpose of the flue pan on the big rigs is just efficiency. I don't see why you couldn't just continue to batch boil with the bigger pan. I want to get another pan for next year, maybe with channels in it so I am not constantly mixing my raw sap with my cooked stuff.

[MapleME]

I think its tough to finish a small amount of syrup on a pan that size. Thats why many of us go to a small finisher. Its a really good system and you have really good control over temps and finished product. You will see some people who have a 2x6 evaporator will have a 2x4 flu pan which does the majority of the evaporation and a 2x2 syrup pan up front and thats how they make up the 2x6 measurments.



So in short what you are saying is if I want to finish syrup in this pan I have to have another pan for pre syrup. Which is why the big rigs have back pans. Is that right?
Also I have access to 1500 taps at my dads and my next door nieghbor has about 4500 to 5000 taps that I could possibly obtain within the next 2 or 3 years. A far cry from 22 this year. I'm hoping I could get set up with a bigger rig in 3 to 4 years. I'm trying to stay small till I can figure out what the heck I'm doing. So far that hasn't been very difficult.
Thanks for the info.

[Peepers]

I have been reading and learning a lot this year so let me know if I have this straight:
- Big pans let you evaporate more water faster
- Smaller pans give you more control over the final product

- Pans with dividers let you slowly add sap on one end and then as it boils off you drain off the syrup or almost-syrup from the other end (some folks finish there and some finish it off and bottle it elsewhere)

- Pans with dropped or raised flues allow more heating area and are better at heating the sap or keeping it boiling

- From what I'm reading there is no "one type fits all" pan, everyone has a preference based on what they've used, what they could make or what they could get cheap/free

The more syrup I make and the more I learn about pans there is one thing I know for sure: My next hobby is going to be welding!

[BarrelBoiler]

THAT(welding) is what alot of us think