2x4 evap ideas .... see pic and blueprint pics !

[Haynes Forest Products]

As far as the dividers and how much you can draw off depends on the evap rate. The last divider is going to get mixed with the next divided section so you will want small draw offs. Smaller rigs with divider have higher density sap/syrup in most of the dividers.

[kinalfarm]

i have had many thoughts on small rigs. I think you guys got the arch figured out but i would go with a 2x4 pan with two dividers in it, as for the pre heater pan put a 3/4 inch drain in that as well. the reasoning behind that is so you can buy a cheap brass float valve and a copper toilet bowl float and they are only about $30 for both and run the rig as a continuous flow evap. that is the only reason to put dividers in otherwise the sap just mixes together and they are pointless. also ad a cheap blower 80-150 cfm it will increase your evap rate by 20-30% and knock yer startup time down from an hour to about 15 min. hope my experience in this same battle heps you out. happy sugarin!

hey sugarnut just a suggestion but you said you fill yer pan 2/3 full. this is why you arent boiling so good. if you keepabout 2-3 inches in your pan at all times it will knock er time down because of the amount of energy the sap is taking to boil. make sense? any body agree?

[farmall h]

Absolutely.

[sugarnut]

hey sugarnut just a suggestion but you said you fill yer pan 2/3 full. this is why you arent boiling so good. if you keep about 2-3 inches in your pan at all times it will knock er time down because of the amount of energy the sap is taking to boil. make sense? any body agree?

your probably right, but without a float to feed in slow, there ain't no way i'm risking scorching this pan again, lol. some of the "need to feed" is also due to the lack of storage i have. last year i didn't even have my tubing up. the year before, i had a plastic drum (apple concentrate barrel) collecting from the tubing and i had tube from there to feed in slowly into my preheater. i let the preheater trickle in slow to match the boil rate and the feed from the barrel. last year i didn't use the barrel or tubing and i needed to dump sap into the pan and get the jugs back on the trees. one of these days i will be able to afford the whole package, lol. you know how it is. i could have used the barrel to store in, but i have it set horizontal on a fuel oil tank stand and it would have been a bit difficult to dump jugs and buckets into.

i know that once i get a setup where i can turn the pan longways, the boil rate will jump...i bet it doubles. i am thinking the current "sweet spot" is only about 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep. i plan to get that to be more like 20-22 inches wide and the full 3 feet of the pan.

[Smitty]

Kinalfarm,
yes i agree, 2" is good. the sap in the pan should be at a good herd boil, but
you need to keep a closer eye on it, it can dry out in a hurry.



Woodbutcher,
use the thermometer, when it gets close to 219, open your draw off valve
just a little. Keep an eye on the thermometer, when it drops to 217, turn
draw off valve off. when the thermometer reaches 219 again, well repeat
the steps. once you do this a bit, you will be able to know exactly how
far to open draw off valve to keep it almost a consistant drip at 219.

[WoodButcher]

ok , so what do you draw that into ? i mean your only going to take out a pint or so at a time, right?
do you just set it aside till you have a gallon or so, then put it in a big finishing pan (big pasta sauce pot for me) and THEN finish it?
in other words, do you wait for multiple draw offs then finish it somewhere else? i would think you have to since this separator pan is like an assemble line... always going . last year i just pulled the pan off the fire, dumped it in a pot, brought it inside, finished it (took about 20 min ) , filtered it, then reheated it back up to 185 degrees and bottled.

just would like to get a consensus

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

With a small flat pan, you can boil the 40 gallons down to 5 gallons and pour it into a 5 gallon bucket and seal it up. Do it again the next day or two, whenver you boil. Once you do this 3 to 5 times, then dump the 5 gallon buckets of high concentrate back into the pan and boil it down to syrup. Done it before many years ago and works good.

[vtsnowedin]

ok guys . ive got the bug !

1. 2'x4' in size with 6" high sides ( or should i get a 2x3 pan? less sq ft but more in contact with the flames, right?
2. 2 handles on the skinny sides of the pan
3. a 3/4" nipple to thread on a ball valve (right size? )
4. 1'x2'x10"tall preheater pan (right size?) on top of the back end of the evap pan.
5. what kind of nipple should i put on the preheater pan ?
6. i can ask to put in dividers for my flat pan... but what good will that do ? do the divided sections connect to eachother? how do you draw off the other sections that are not by the draw off valve in the corner? remember , ill only have ONE pan to do it all .

thats it . i think those dimensions should be just fine, but wanted an opinion on the preheater pan size and the evap pan size.

heres a blueprint of member DAVYJONES's evap . he did a great job . also NEMO5 has the red model .

thanks for all the input !!!!! i just want to make sure i get the right pan made.

1. Longer is better. There is a good reason commercial rigs are sixteen feet long. The fire is the hottest at the back side of the grates and it takes contact time and surface area for the colder sap to suck that heat from the flue gasses through the sheet metal of the pan. As for side height I'd go with ten inch sides cause you plan to get this baby really jumping.
2. NO handles. You might be tempted to use them with a pan full of hot syrup and spill it on yourself. Boiling hot bluejeans stuck to your thigh hurts like a sombrich.
3. 3/4 ? sure more then enough.
4. Sure but slant the bottom so that condensate runs to the edge and drops outside the pan so you don't have to reboil it.
5. Halley Barry's
6.Put in the dividers with plugs or slides to close them off when needed. Then you have in effect two three or four pans depending on the number of dividers. You close off the last section when it gets close to syrup and while its finishing you let in more sap to build up the level in the rest of the pan. When your syrup in the last section is done as far as your going to take it you open the draw off and as soon as the level gets low (not dry) open the plug or slide and let the new sap in. It will push out the last of the syrup and you can see the line between the syrup and the new sap by the difference in the bubbles. Shut off the draw off just as the new sap gets to the nipple.

[PeddlerLakeSapper]

Sugarnut, here is what we did last year with a totally homemade pan. We put a divided front section that is 18" X 24" with a 3/4" coupler for a draw off.

The back section was just an undivided flat pan. Corners were clipped off to provide flow into and through the front section.

Preheater is about the same as you mentioned with a 1/2" feed line to the homemade float and float box.

Changes for this year will be the addition of 9 drop flues to the rear pan and dividers. The open rear pan caused the draw offs to be inconsistent time wise. We would be getting a couple of draws every 20 min., then we would go 40 to 45 before the next one. The rear dividers should eliminate the inconsistent draws.
The flow from the preheater needs to be restricted because the homemade float would not stop or slow down the flow enough. A valve should solve that.
Other than those things, this worked very well for a homemade pan.
This is also a heavy gauge pan. We were able to get about 15 gal. per hour out of it. Hoping for double with the 9 drop flue addition.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Cool looking thermometer what make is it. Is your float lever twisted?