Out of curiosity, is it possible your dividers are just tacked down, and a lot of sap is mixing between them? Probably not, but it could explain this.
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Out of curiosity, is it possible your dividers are just tacked down, and a lot of sap is mixing between them? Probably not, but it could explain this.
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Dividers are solid welded.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
Just out of co-incidence I had a draw off three hours into the boil this afternoon. Maybe I left more sweet in the pan last night. We will see if I get another draw later today.
Thanks for the advice.
I am not going to make any end of the tapping season predictions based on the long range forecast, but what looked like 2 more weeks of unlimited flows, certainly looks more finite now. I know the forecast will change more than a dozen times, but it has me thinking about the last day of boiling on the 2x4 divided pan.
My pan has 2” of sap depth in it and when I stop adding wood to the firebox, I need 15 gallons of sap in the head tank to feed the pan while it cools down and it uses almost every drop of the 15 gallons before it stops steaming. My plan was to only have 10 gallons in the feed tank on the final day, when I stop firing, and then let the pan level boil down to about an inch, give or take. Draw it off once it had cooled down, then finish it on a turkey fryer.
Is this a reasonable plan or a dangerous one?
Thanks
That is a very reasonable plan, just keep 5 gallons of water on hand just in case. 1" depth in your 2x4 pan is about 5 gallons which should be pretty sweet so it shouldn't take too long to finish that off on your turkey fryer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
As I mentioned a month ago or so...a good plan. Assuming your pan is sweet, which I am not sure if it is, of that 5 gallons about 3 should be syrup.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
Lol, that is where I got my plan from, just wanted to make sure my volumes of sap were correct. I do get a gradient in my pan which is obvious by the colours and I did get an early draw off last time, but I likely for whatever reason have not maintained a sweet pan. Perhaps that is to come.
I have to admit if I just kept getting a drawoff at the end of a long boil, sort of batch boiling, I am fine with that, as I immediately take that and finish it while it is still hot, then filter it, then bottle it while it is still hot. Very little reheating. I have been making 8.5 to 10.5 L each time of syrup, which fits into my capacity perfectly (finish pot size). Yesterday with it coming off mid boil, I had to reheat it, which takes a little while.
Long range forecast has already changed, so I will do that plan whenever the time comes.
I am well ahead of last year’s pace, but I need the season to extend into mid April to meet some long range goals. Last year I made 109 L with 109 taps, although I was assisted with 110 L of sap given to me. This year I would like to make 140 L with no added sap from a friend. I have 170+ taps, but some are on pails and some are on very short lines and some were tapped at Christmas, some mid February, some March 1, so I have no expectation of a litre a tap, but 140 sounds like a nice number and a good goal. I also benefit from high sugar content in my sap.
I am still really pleased with the vacuum filter. Very fast, very easy, does a great job, and very little syrup lost to the filters. I have mentioned this before, but I have a five gallon pail filled with water, and I just toss th filters from the vacuum filter into the pail and either later that day or the next day, I go to clean them, and the job is mostly done with the water diluting the nitre and the final cleanup of the filters is simply quickly finishing them.
Do you have a thermometer by your draw off valve, when you your syrup gets to proper density you slowly open the valve a little and watch the thermometer and once the temp starts dropping you close the valve. Thats how you maintain a sweet pan, only drawings off finished or near finished syrup.
I have had 2 boils on my Smoky Lake Dauntless Evaporator so far this year and at about the 130 gallon mark is when I hit the proper density to draw off some syrup, so I just cracked the valve and watch my thermometer till is was falling and closed the valve and them a little while later after adding more sap I had one more draw before I shut down for the day, so in those 2 boils I had about 150 gallons of sap, my sap is usually in the 2.5 to 3.5 percent range and I ended up only drawing off 1 gallon of finished syrup. So now next time I boil if I add another say 80 gallons of sap to the pan I should expect to get about 2 gallons of syrup drawn off from it during that boil. Thats how you maintain the sweet pan. My divided pan is 20"X48".
Bryan
I do have a thermometer and I do watch for the temperature to change. The one big difference in what we do, is I open my valve wide open as per the advice of my pan maker and you crack yours open. I wonder if that makes a difference?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bgreisch
Thanks for the advice.
I was fortunate today to finally watch my neighbour’s boil their sap. Their family has been doing it for generations. Their large cast iron finishing pot has been used for generations. They have a 5x2 flat pan, also around for a long time, that sits low to ground on a metal frame with tin sides. It has a couple of pieces of tin for a door, that are just leaning against the fire box opening. They add wood whenever they feel the boil gets down. They add sap, by going out to a drum holding the sap, dip in their metal pail, then dump the sap into the pan.It is not a brisk boil and is not for the whole pan, but the pan steams and they do reduce the syrup. They use far, far, far less wood than me. It is a very low event day. They only tap for a week to ten days, just enough to make 25-30 L of syrup and then they pull their taps.
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I can see why they chuckle at me, when my timer goes off every ten minutes and I stuff full the burning inferno evaporator of mine. I do boil at a much faster rate than they do, but their boil rate is just perfect for them and they have three families and sometimes more that help them and I am very envious of that. I told them what they have and what they do, is really what making maple syrup is all about.
I asked you about that a page or two ago, and if you replied I never saw it. This is what I suspected. If you are just opening it wide and dumping all the sweet, this is why you don't maintain a gradient. If this is what you prefer, that's fine, but most folks would rather keep a good gradient in their pan and have smaller/more continuous draws.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
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