Divided pan?

This may be a very basic question, but I am a very basic guy. What is the benefit of a divided pan?

it makes it a continous flow and improve gradient(makes more lighter syrup). so you can just have sao flow out of your prehearer and through you pan and then out the draw off, almost continously,

spencer

If you watch this video closely you will be able to see the sap getting darker. Where the clear fresh sap is coming in and pushing the boiled darker sap through the pan toward the drawoff. That is the gradient that Spencer mentioned.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boarsne...57623212829613

[QUOTE=sawyerkirk;175211]This may be a very basic question, but I am a very basic guy. What is the benefit of a divided pan?[/QUOTE

What spencer and BoarsNest have already stated is right on. LOL - I batch boiled for years - have used a divided pan for about three years now - The answer is that it takes less time for the same amount of syrup on divided pans. On batch boiling - as You know - You have a pan of sap and you boil and boil and add more sap and boil and keep it up till you run out of sap and boil it down to near syrup and then finish in another smaller pan. In a continuous flow divided pan or pans you have all kinds of different sizes and types - but - lets keep it simple and use mine for the example. One divider in the sap pan for two sections 12"x24" and Two dividers in the syrup pan for three sections 8"x36" and they all are interconnected. Now when I start the whole thing has about three inches of sap in it - just like a batch pan and you boil and boil and when the level drops to about 1 1/2 to 2 inches (I don't have a float box) I start adding sap to my first sap section and regulate the valve to maintain 1 1/2 to 2 inches throughout all the sections and you keep this going and you will notice that in the last syrup section with the draw-off valve - it starts looking like syrup - so ya draw off a test cup full and check with the syrup hydrometer - nope to thin - time goes on and ya check again and what the ? this is almost syrup. time to draw off a quart or gallon depends on evaporator size and how it checks out ---- and this process is repeated and repeated till ya run out of sap or want to call it a day. I won't go into banking the fire and shutting down - but this is where you would set it up to leave your pans sweet by closing your sections plugs - valves or gates to isolate the different sections from each other. Now on the next startup You are ready to go and you will start making syrup sooner as you left your pans sweet from the first boil........Hope I helped You some -----Mike---

Hmmmmmmmm! Wonder if sawyerkirk ever bothered to read the replys to his question - oh well----------kinda basic - I would think ---LOL