Steam Pans

[Jaredd91]

Im trying to figure out what most people do on here for a steam pan. Would i be better off with a few smaller pans or one big pan? What size is best? Also where is the best place?

[mol1jb]

Main thing you want to think about is sap depth. Having 1 inch of sap boils a lot faster and starts much quicker than 4 inches of sap. Steam pans don't vary a lot in size. I bet you could dig up a lot of evaporators with a steam pan design on this forum.

I think I bought mine on Amazon (cheapest) but if you want to go through a maple dealer I know bascom has them.

Below was my first evaporator made out of a 55 gallon drum. I first made it into a wood stove with the converter kit and cut two holes in the top that the pans fit into.
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[DRoseum]

Agree with comments about sap depth. You want to keep it thin to have better boiling efficiency. However a deeper steam pan is nice to help contain splashes from boiling and when it foams up as your boil approaches syrup density/temp. That said the more pans the better so (1) you can keep depth lower and (2) you could keep sap in stages. For example, imagine 3 pans, one could be fresh sap, one closest to syrup and one in middle that is in between. Keep moving your boil from one pan to next to emulate the benefits of continuous flow evaps. Amazon is a good source for full size 6 inch deep steam table pans.

[Wannabe]

This was the cheapest place I could find them.
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cho...p/4070069.html

And yes the more pans the better.

Not sure how many taps you plan on having but I stole this guys idea on building one, but I have 4 pans down inside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83Yv2m6HKQ. Cheap, easy, no welding. Regular old house bricks without the holes in them will work good enough for the firebricks too.

[mol1jb]

Here is a block configuration that my dad has used for many years.

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[Swingpure]

Thank you for all of the pictures, information and tips. I really like the idea of having the lips of the steam trays above the concrete blocks in order to grab them and I can appreciate blocking the flames from going up the 20” sides. I also think there may be an advantage to having the pans sunken down into the fire box. I might have a solution for me that accomplishes both goals.

I have been told the metal on the sides is not a good idea and I will have to learn that the hard way, but until I do, I could weld angle iron on to the steel walls at such a height that the steam pan lips sit an inch above the blocks. I could also have 4” wide metal bars spanning the angle iron, that would block the flames from coming up the sides of the pans.

The attached crude drawing has a red arrow showing the approximate height of the angle iron and the yellow lines showing where the metal could go.

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[Swingpure]

I saw a video where they said you should get 1 to 1.5 times the square footage of your pans for gallons boiled per hour. That is likely high for a block arch, but if it was accurate, my five steam pans at 8 square feet could get 8 to 12 gallons per hour. (I am just hoping for 7-8 gallons, anything else is bonus.)

My question is as a measure, when do you start calculating gallons boiled per hour? Do you wait until all pans are boiling, or wait until the second hour after everything is warmed up and boiling, or is it the final number at the end of the day?

[Sugar Bear]

The net effect of having steam pan sidewalls away from the flames and having dry firewood can not be overstated in a back yard sugaring operation. Two simple and easily achievable tasks.

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[Sugar Bear]

This was my first season back in 2016 with three steam pans with sidewalls out of the firebox.

Seven boils beginning with the first boil on the left. Space between jars indicates a boil. Season started in late January and ended with a seventh boil at the end of March far right and very dark. The syrup color followed the temperatures very closely that year. A cold spell in late March lightened the syrup up a bit for boil 6 second from right

I was meticulous that year with scooping. But well placed steam pans and at least a bit of scooping will make the highest quality syrup that can be made. Don't bother with a ladle ( that is a bad joke ) use a small pot ( Git er done! )

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[Swingpure]

This is an interesting thread for me having not boiled before. I was going to start off with 4” of sap in each pan and when it got down to 3”, start ladling from one steam pan to the other.

If I understand this thread, I want to start off with more like 2” of sap and I guess start to ladle about an inch deep. (which on the surface sounds tough to ladle at that depth)