Originally Posted by
UB29
Did a test boil (with water) yesterday on my new 2x4XL. 25 minutes from ice cold to full boil in all four channels, which I thought was awesome compared to my old 55gal barrel rig.
My question is on shutdown. Obviously, once sweetened, the pan will be left alone until the next boil. But what do I do with the contents of the preheater pan if I'm out of time and need to shut down? Looks like the preheater will hold up to 5 gallons of sap, and I will be boiling concentrate @ 7-8%. On test boil yesterday, the preheater pan went up to 170 degrees. I don't think leaving 170 deg. concentrate in there overnight would be the right move. Do I flood the evaporator pan with whatever is left in the pre-heater pan? Do I need to drain the preheater and boil for a period of time in the pan before shutting down? Thanks for the help.