When to Clean Pans?

[Sweetrun]

I am boiling on a Leader 2x6. I have boiled about 5 times and made about 10gal. The niter is starting to build up a bit in the bottom of both the sap and syrup pans (kind of a dusting, but can't see much shiney at the bottom anymore). The sweet is getting darker, and I am wondering when is a good time to clean. Do most folks drain, filter and dump back in the sweet after cleaning?

[Greg Morin]

I would say if you have a dry spell and the time it wouldnt hurt to drain thru a filter clean the pan and put the sweet back in . anytime is a good time as long as you have the time.

[PerryW]

It certainly makes the final clean-up easier if you clean mid-season and may even improove the grade but....In 22 years of Sugaring, I have only cleaned the front pan twice mid-season (never the back pan), and those were bumper crop years.

But I religiously reverse the flow with each boil.

[Haynes Forest Products]

On my 3x10 I cleaned the finish pan every night. I scorched my drawoff pan the first year going past 2 days. I block off the flue and first syrup pan drain the finish pan and soak all night. return the syrup and continue on. Filtering thru a course cloth is a good way to go. I wouldnt try getting total sedement seperation just alot of work for little return . Maybe its the fact that all the trees I tap are on a limestone rock that causes alot of Niter in the pans 1/6-1/8 every day.

[sweetwoodmaple]

I clean mine every shut down as well. My D&G cannot reverse as it is a cross flow, so I have fought the battle of having to slow down after a couple boils due to niter build up. Just easier to clean every boil.

I run about 7 gallons of concentrate from the draw off during shut down and save in buckets. Then, I run the evaporator very low before shutting down.

The next morning I plug and drain the front pan and dump in the back pan.

I then use a reduced concentrate of Milkstone Remover and let sit for several hours, then a light scotchbrite scrub, rinse and refill with the concentrate from the buckets.

Finally, I bring everything to a boil, then remove the plug from between the front/back pans and let the float go....back to making syrup in one hour after startup.

[red maples]

I clean my syrup pan at every shut down and I like to drain the flue pan and filter it everyonce in a while and run a brush down the flues to get rid of any big niter chunks.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well in years past I have no choice but to do a syrup pan cleanup everynight. This year though with the rig running nonstop for days on end If i don't do a cleanup every 6 hours I am in jeopardy of scorching the pans,so that means I have done 4 cleanups in a 24 hour period. With a 2x6 reversing the flow is pretty much useless. To small of a surface area for it to self clean without it building up in the front section before the back section is cleaned resulting in a full pan cleanup versus a section and a half. I learned the hard way like Haynes did. Some of us just get alot of niter and there is no way around it.

[brookledge]

This year I added a RO and quckly found out that the sugar sand was building up more than before on the whole syrup pan. In the past when I reversed the sap coming into the syrup pan would eat up the nitre. Well now it is so concentrated as it comes in that it doesn't do that.
So since I have revolutions pans and it is easy to reverse flow (about 5 seconds) I'm reversing flows about every 1.5 hours and what a differece it made.
Keith

[Clan Delaney]

I emptied my pans today and cleaned them out. Filtered the sweet at the same time. Lotsa mud in there. Just needed a spray wash and light scrub, nothing hard-core. I fel like I'm getting a better boil for having done it. Hopefully, not-as-dark syrup, too.

[Brent]

Like 3rdgen and red maples, I have a Phaneuf and I find I have to clean the pans every day. Once I caught Patrick in a good mood on an email and he said reverse flow on small pans is a waste of money. Won't work. He does have a great design for it though.

Anyway, I paid $600 for a new duplicate of my syrup pan and I'll clean one while boiling with the other ... at least than's the plan.

I am wondering if Patrick's design makes the syrup pans hotter and we do more boiling there than most and therefore get more nitre in them. Hmmm.

[JohnsSugarShack]

I have a 2x6 raised flue and after boiling two nights ago I feel that I should clean my syrup pan. So far I've had 3 boils and made just over 7 gallons all of which is fancy. On each boil I do reverse the flow but the sugar sand seems to be building up. I plan on cleaning mine this weekend before I fire up again, just a piece of mind don't want to burn any syrup expecially the pan.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I have my cleaning down to a minimum. At shut down I plug off the flue and 1st finish pans and drain and shop vac the big stuff out I dump in water and vinigar up to the scum line and cover both finishers with custom covers and restart the rig and bring to a boil. Finish beer on way back to cabin. Next morning pans are clear as can be. Drain cleaner back into storage buckets and hose out the cleaner as I scrub the sides with food grade toilet brush. Shop vac out all water and dump in syrup start to finish cleaning 1/2 hr time.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Like 3rdgen and red maples, I have a Phaneuf and I find I have to clean the pans every day. Once I caught Patrick in a good mood on an email and he said reverse flow on small pans is a waste of money. Won't work. He does have a great design for it though.

Anyway, I paid $600 for a new duplicate of my syrup pan and I'll clean one while boiling with the other ... at least than's the plan.

I am wondering if Patrick's design makes the syrup pans hotter and we do more boiling there than most and therefore get more nitre in them. Hmmm.

Patrick might make good equipment, but he got this one wrong. One my 2x8, I reverse the flow every 4 hours whether it needs it or not and it definitely makes a big difference. I can make 50 gallons or more without cleaning the pans and could probably go an entire season if I wanted to.

[3rdgen.maple]

I can tell you for sure it does not work on my rig at all. Tried it many times with worthless results. Even with my old rig I could not boil more than a couple days without a cleanup cause niter buildup is so bad. I strongly believe if you live in a area where niter is a big problem it is worthless on a small rig. Now if you live in an area where it is not nearly as bad and you can go days or weeks on end without a cleanup reversing the flow will help you, but heck I would not go that long without a cleanup anyways.

[Brent]

Brandon
I'm guessing your 2 x 8 has a 3 ft syrup pan and that may just be big enough to make the difference. One foot more in 3 channels give the syrup 9 feet to travel where ours only has 6'.

Edit
Actually my 2 x 2 pan has 3 dividers, so there are 4 channels. The extra foot on a 8 footer x 4 channels is even more significant.

[3rdgen.maple]

Good point Brent. With 3-2 foot channels it builds up in a channel and a half. When I rotate the pan it builds up in the clean channel and a half before the other end is cleaned up. With 3 extra feet it could make a big difference. When the man says it does not work on the small pans and when I try it and it does not work I gotta believe he is correct.

[farmall h]

Haynes that food grade toilet brush gets quite the work out eh?!

[wally]

in 30 years, i've never cleaned the pans mid-sesason. i switch sides for drawing-off every 2nd boil.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Farmall She is a dandy we have been together for about 8 years and cant find one like it:) Lone handles work good when your sloshing around hot vinegar and water.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brent,

You are right, I do have 2x3 syrup pan and maybe the extra 1' makes a difference. I think it has a lot to do with your area too. I am so far south of all of you guys I am sure my soil and mineral content is different somewhat too. Some years it is much worse for me too. One thing I have found over the years is the better the quality of sap, the less sugarsand at least for me.

[SeanD]

I have my cleaning down to a minimum. At shut down I plug off the flue and 1st finish pans and drain and shop vac the big stuff out I dump in water and vinigar up to the scum line and cover both finishers with custom covers and restart the rig and bring to a boil. Finish beer on way back to cabin. Next morning pans are clear as can be. Drain cleaner back into storage buckets and hose out the cleaner as I scrub the sides with food grade toilet brush. Shop vac out all water and dump in syrup start to finish cleaning 1/2 hr time.

I like this method because I won't have to disconnect the pans and lift them out, but how long after shut down can you drain the front pan? It seems like the fire box would still be hot enough to scorch the pan.

Also, for rinsing out the vinegar cleaner, do you just fill once and dump or does it take a big hosing out? I don't have a floor drain, so if it's a lot of water , I'll have to plan ahead.

Sean

[Haynes Forest Products]

SeanD I dont have a floor drain either. BUT I have a big Ridgid shop vac.(the only brand to buy) When I drain the syrup I shop vac out the loose niter. Then after I drain the cleaner I rince with water as Im shop vacing . I also have a section of corrigated hose that I have a wire loop on that hangs over the draw off valve that I will shove out the door and do big cleanup with. As I spray with water I vac the corners and drawoff boxes and transfer pipe. Sucking with the vac and spraying really gets it clean. I do the taste test when im done and its cleaner free.

I working on a :) FOOD GRADE:) vac system that will be a SS beer kegs for tanks and it will use a shop vac that will be UP in the attic out of the way like a whole house vac system and it will have a ball check to keep the liquid out and away from it. I want to have the system so it will have the tanks (1) cleaner (2) Syrup/finish pan sweet mounted higher than the evap so I can gravity feed them back into the evap as needed. I want to minimize pumps and areas that grud can live. I also want to be able to filter the finish pan liquid before it goes back into the evap. Maybe a screen so it flows freeley. My best bet would be a filter sock to keep it simple.

[danno]

I like this method because I won't have to disconnect the pans and lift them out, but how long after shut down can you drain the front pan? It seems like the fire box would still be hot enough to scorch the pan.

Also, for rinsing out the vinegar cleaner, do you just fill once and dump or does it take a big hosing out? I don't have a floor drain, so if it's a lot of water , I'll have to plan ahead.

Sean

I dump a whole lot of water after rinsing with vinegar. I don't have a floor drain - but I have a few methods to get rid of water quickly.

1. attach garden hose to drawoff and run the hose outside (I don't use this one).

2. Drill 1" hole towards the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and put in a garden hose adaptor. Run hose outside ( I use this mainly to get rid of my condensate off my preheater/hoods).

3. 2 - 35 gallon rubbermades. One under each drawoff with a pump in the can. I use a small 1/6 hp submersible electric utility pump with a garden hose. This is the setup I use when cleaning my syrup pan. Works great.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I just saw at Home Depot that ridged has a new pump that screws to the bottom valve on the tank that will pump the vac tank empty thru a garden hose as your vacuuming:) :)

[SeanD]

Thanks for the feedback. I have the shop vac. The hose on the draw off is a great idea.

Sean