If aluminum was a good pan choice and less expensive than stainless there would be pans already out there and available. I am not aware of any aluminum pans being made for whatever reason so I would shy away from using it.
If aluminum was a good pan choice and less expensive than stainless there would be pans already out there and available. I am not aware of any aluminum pans being made for whatever reason so I would shy away from using it.
Smoky Lake 2x6 dropflu pans and hoods on homemade arch
Smoky Lake 6 gallon water jacked bottler
Concentric Exhaust
250 Deer Run RO
325 taps
Neurotoxin is a big word and relatively meaningless by itself and should be put into perspective rather then just randomly used as a "fear" word.
A neurotoxin is a substance that destroys or corrupts nervous tissues. Although we try to frequently pretend otherwise, Alcohol ( the kind we are allowed by law to drink for our own fun and enjoyment is a classified Neurotoxin ) But it should be because the evidence is overwhelming that it destroys and corrupts nervous tissues. Prohibition, while it was far more crazy, was designed to prevent things like the "Affordable Care Act", more so then anything else.
The effects of neurotoxins in aluminum getting into food and into the human body are far more ambiguous. There is absolutely no evidence at all that shows aluminum causes Alzheimers and unfortunately ( wish it were otherwise ) none that shows maple syrup cures Alzheimers.
The melting point of aluminum is about 200 degrees lower then steel so I would save the aluminum for making a metal roof over one of your collection barrels and get some good stainless steel for a evaporating pan.
Cheers ...
to a "little bit" of some Fresh Maple Syrup.
Sugaring for 45+ years
New Sugarhouse 14'x32'
New to Me Algier 2'x8' wood fired evaporator
2022 added a used RB25 RO Bucket
250 mostly Sugar Maples, 15% Soft Maples. Currently,(110on 3/16" and 125 on Shurflo 4008 vacuum, 15 gravity), (16,000 before being disabled)
1947 Farmall H and Wagon with gathering tank
2012 Kubota with forks to move wood around
The whole issue of aluminum being a nueutotoxin is a red herring. The fact is that aluminum, unlike stainless, very quickly oxidizes, forming a thin surface on the pan. Boiling something acidic (especially for hours and hours!) leaches this aluminum off the surface. You can taste it, and you can see it, if you're cooking something light colored. I once accidentally boiled chick-peas for a long time in an aluminum pot, and they came out grey and tasting metallic. But I've tasted it in tomato sauce too. I sure don't want this in my syrup, and I don't think anyone else does either.
Here's a link, if you're curious to start learning more: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how...-cookware-safe
Cheers,
Gabe
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
2024: 17 taps
All on buckets
Aluminum was approved for only very limited uses (filter support...essentially non-contact uses) in maple sap collection and processing during a review of construction materials by a maple industry study group in the early-2000s (which arose out of the lead crisis). As I recall, it was universally rejected by maple manufacturers at that time as unsuitable for contact with sap/syrup. I agreed with that conclusion at the time, and agree with that recommendation still, primarily because, as Gabe suggests, it can cause a metallic off-flavor in syrup. Seems to be something you'd want to avoid.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
We boiled on large, homemade aluminum pans for years with great success. If there were any disadvantages, we didn't notice.
People routinely cook in aluminum cookware. I think the evidence that it is harmful is weak. I think extremely few, if any, could taste the difference in syrup in a blind taste test.
We now boil in Amish stainless pans, made with lead-free solder. I looked it up, the melting point of solder is about 361 degrees, and the melting point of aluminum is 1,221 degrees.
60ish taps on buckets
D&G Sportsman 18x63
Turbo RB15 RO Bucket
Galvanized steel was on the "Unacceptable" list for buckets. Aluminum is listed as "OK = Acceptable" for spouts and buckets. Note that this is for new construction. There are certainly lots of galvanized steel buckets out there. It is a material that is generally not used in food manufacturing equipment these days, although you might occasionally find a few things made with it.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
I know there are a lot of people a whole lot smarter then me, on this forum. I did have dinner the other night ( thanks to my wife who is a chemical engineer graduate from Yale ) with a lead engineer for the design and implementation of the escape capsule for the soon to be crew of 4 that will soon fly on the Orion space Vehicle.
So through regular osmosis from my wife's college friends and maple trader I am able to acquire a bit of good practice.
We want to choose steel for our evaporation pans over aluminum, ESPECIALLY on the homemade arches ... 24 x 7 x 365 and 366 on leap years. Don't brain cramp it.
As for other uses of the Aluminum ... it works well enough for me as a heat shield. I use a 4 by 4 sheet of it between the spruce/hemlock siding on the back wall of my sugar shack and my smoke stack. There was only about a 2 inch gap there between the stack and siding and "flame on" was a perpetual threat until I placed the 4 x 4 sheet between the two and up against the wood siding. The aluminum quickly disperses ( like a cooling fin ) the heat outward away from the closest contact point with the heat coming off the stack. It thereby reduces the risk of "Flame On" with the wood siding to near 0 as far as 3 years of "research" have shown. VERY EFFECTIVE!
Key detail : Notice I said the aluminum went against the siding and does not contact the stack directly.
I also using another sheet of aluminum for a roof over a collection barrel with bungs that are subject to seepage with rainfall.