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Thread: Aluminum pot or not?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    Waddington
    Posts
    78

    Default Aluminum pot or not?

    Well title says it all I'm about to cook down the concentrate that's left in the evaporator. I don't want to put a flame to my draw off pail and my next best pan is aluminum. Will aluminum work well or not? Don't ever see aluminum pans for the arch. Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Pembroke,ON
    Posts
    55

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    My turkey fryer pot is aluminum, seems to work for syrup too!
    2018: 40 taps, 19.5l syrup
    2017: 80 taps, 20 liters syrup.
    2016: 40 taps, 38.5 liters maple syrup. Bonus 1 liter of Birch Syrup from 12 taps.
    2015: 1st time! 13 taps, 175l sap, 8.2l syrup

    Boiling on arch made from old wood furnace with 4 steam table pans

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Alcona County, Michigan
    Posts
    1,134

    Default

    Aluminum should work fine, especially for concentrate. Sap will eat through an aluminum pan eventually, but it takes time.
    CE
    44° 41′ 3″ N

    2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
    2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
    2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
    2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
    2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
    An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
    An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Acworth, NH
    Posts
    960

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    What would cause sap to "eat" though aluminum? Just wondering.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Alcona County, Michigan
    Posts
    1,134

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by 325abn View Post
    What would cause sap to "eat" though aluminum? Just wondering.
    Low or high pH. Boiling well water will typically eat through aluminum eventually.
    CE
    44° 41′ 3″ N

    2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
    2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
    2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
    2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
    2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
    An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
    An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Wendell MA
    Posts
    91

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    The only thing I've seen "eat" aluminum is tomatos. I've made several aluminum pans that all worked good. However, Dr Perkins told me aluminum is not approved by the maple people altho he said not to worry about it for home use.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Alcona County, Michigan
    Posts
    1,134

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    Tomatoes will definitely eat through aluminum much faster than sap will. But thin aluminum turkey fryer pans boiling sap for many hours at a time degrade from both sides whereas stainless steel pans don't.
    CE
    44° 41′ 3″ N

    2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
    2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
    2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
    2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
    2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
    An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
    An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Sugarhill NH
    Posts
    723

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    Boiling in anything aluminum makes maple taste like aluminum
    30x8 Leader revolution, wood fired blower, steamaway/hood. 903 taps all but 54 on pipeline and 3 vacuum systems. Hauling sap this year with a 99 F350 7.3 diesel dump and of course back up is the Honda 450 and trailer.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Crivitz, WI
    Posts
    88

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    My first year I boiled off in an Aluminum turkey fryer, I suspect that many have and many more will do just that!
    2013 15 Homemade Taps, Milk Jugs, Turkey Fryer, 3 Gallons Syrup
    2014 Finishing my college degree, looked longingly at the Maples all spring
    2015 26 1/2 Real taps, Milk Jugs, Homemade 20x25 pan on propane, 5+ Gallons Syrup
    2016 50 Taps, Milk Jugs, Homemade 25x48 pan on propane block arch, 8 1/2 Gallons Syrup
    2020 80 Taps, Milk Jugs, 25x48 pan on propane block arch w/preheater, 10 gallons syrup

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
    Posts
    11,575

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    My first year I boiled on a 2x3 SS pan and a friend boiled on English tin and finished it in an aluminum pot on a turkey fryer. My wife and I each sampled his and he ours. After we got back in our vehicle, we both agreed his had an aluminum after taste. Cooking in aluminum has sometimes been thought to be one possible cause of Alzheimer's. I decided I would not take the chance, my memory has nothing to spare.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

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