Evaporator Question

[Tim Wagoner]

Don’t know if I am doing this right. I have a Lapierr storm 2X8 cross flow evaporator and this is the first pan I have had that was not a batch pan. My question is, when making syrup with this do I leave out the plugs that connect the front two syrup boxes together. I have run through about 380 gal of sap and have not gotten any syrup off of it until I kept the two syrup boxes from mixing with each other by using one of the plugs that keeps the two pans from mixing. I thought I was to keep everything open and it would cook the sap in the front partition of the front pan until it was syrup? If so then I have something set up wrong. My pan is level and is not tilted to one side or the other. I do not have brix gage so I don’t know what the sugar content is coming out of the tree’s so I am not sure if it is low or not. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Tim Wagoner
T&K Farms
340 taps 160 on line 180 on buckets and jugs
Lapierre Storm 2X8 cross flow with homemade steam preheater hood
Zerro Milk storage tank with UV light
UTV that lets me drive in the hills of KY to collect that wonderful SAP!
www.tk-farms.com

[Dave Y]

Tim,
You should have a continous flow from back to front on that evaporator. It can take some tome to get syrup when you first start. But once you get the pans sweetened you should be able to draw off most times when you boil. Of course this if you have enough sap and you have good sugar content.
I looked at your web site very nice !

[Beans Maple]

Tim,
It will take a long, boring, frustrating, somewhat exicitng time before you make syrup, but, you definitly need to keep those plugs out to maintain proper flow. The good news is that once you do, it will have a much more frequent draw off of syrup than the "batch" method. It will help with syrup quality too. You aren't doing anything wrong and there probably is nothing wrong with the evaporator either. Just like a kid....be patient and good things will come....

[maplwrks]

Patience my boy!!! The sap that you had will only make approx 8 1/2 gallons of syrup when finished. That evaporator will hold 10 gallons, so the next boil will seem more productive. Don't plug anything, that will lead to burnt pans!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

As stated be patiant. I have some scrap SS in my garage that shows what happens when the plugs are left in. It reminds me of waiting around for your first child to be born. Alot of planning, alot of expectations, all the prep work and then nothing. They induce and then you sit and then the next thing you know all heck breaks out and your caught off guard It can only be a matter of 10 min to go from almost syrup to disaster in the finish pan so be ready with the pail of sap and have your bucket for drawoff ready its coming.