Pre-Filtering Sugar Sand

[lharris1]

I’m new at operating an evaporator, having just started up the Waterloo-Small 2x6 with raised flue a couple of weeks ago. After operating the second day I noticed a large accumulation of sugar sand in the syrup float box where sap feeds in from the sap pan. This evaporator has a very large float box. The drop flue box is much smaller because there is no float. I got the idea of removing some of the sugar sand by stirring it up and pulling off through a paper cone filter. This is on the opposite side from where syrup is being drawn off. Every couple of hours we draw off close to a gallon into a pan and just pour it back into the evaporator. We find that it greatly reduces the pluggage of the filters on the final draw off.

Does anyone out there use this technique?

[sweetwoodmaple]

Larry,

If you want the lightest syrup, you need to keep the syrup (when it is close to it's final density) hot for the minimum amount of time.

So, if you don't mind a little darker syrup, then what you are doing is fine.

Brian

[lharris1]

Thanks for the info. We will try not pulling it off and see if we get lighter syrup. We don't allow it to cool much we pull a little off and dump it right back in. Also, I don't think the we are very high on the birx number at this point.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Larry - sorry, i missed the fact you are taking it off on the opposite side from your draw off. That makes things better.

Where do you pour it back in? close to where you draw it off?

Not sure how much you have researched how an evaporator works, but you have to try to maintain the sugar gradient (low to high) between where the sap comes in and where the syrup comes out. When you dump it back in, it raises the level of that partition in the evaporator, which may upset the gradient a little.

In your 2 x 6 (like mine), you don't have enough boiling rate to do continuous syrup draw off very easily, so the gradient is less of a big deal because you will usually draw off in batches.

Brian

[lharris1]

I always pour it back in the first chamber next to where I draw it off. We are maintaining just under 1 1/2" in the syrup pan and generally get 1.3 to 2 gallons syrup before the temperature starts to drop. I can run a lot of syrup through before the filters start to plug.

Do you have a raised flue or dropflue?

I will be out of touch for several days while I spend some time at the sugar house. I live and work about 110 miles from there, but the my borther and the other guy we work with are there all the time. I'm the only one not retired.

Larry

[sweetwoodmaple]

Drop flue. You hear debates both ways on which one is better. :D

Before I stop boiling, I put a plug in both sides of my syrup pan to retain the sweet in the front pan and less sweet in the flue pan.

When the fire is out and pans are cool (usually next day), I drain off the pans into buckets. If the niter is bad, I'll put it through a prefilter while draining it. That definately helps when I start up again with the filters during syrup draw off.

Good luck this weekend. Hope things run well!!! :wink: