I was able to remove a bunch of ice from the pails I put outside this morning and left some ice in them to help keep them cool while they spend the night in my garage. I will do the same thing tomorrow as well.
I was able to remove a bunch of ice from the pails I put outside this morning and left some ice in them to help keep them cool while they spend the night in my garage. I will do the same thing tomorrow as well.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
So that means 2x5 flat pans including preheat. Without blower 10gph all day long. With a blower, 15 is reasonable. You will hit 18 and maybe even 20, but you won’t average that over a day of boiling.
You will easily keep up with 100 taps though.
Flue pans must be divided from the syrup pan. You can separate batches of syrup by closing the valve or blocking the opening between, but you cannot take what’s in the flue pan to syrup. Flue pans are better suited to sweetening once and then “daily” boils, leaving the pans full between boils.
Big_Eddy
Eastern Ontario (Quinte)
20+ years on a 2x3 block arch,
Homemade 20"x64" drop flue since 2011
Build a Block Arch
Build a Flat Pan
Build a Flue Pan
Sweetening the Pans
Build a Bending Brake
Using a Hydrotherm
How much Sap to Sweeten?
For what it's worth Gary, I realize the money thing is a lot, but from personal experience going from a flat pan then to a divided pan and finally getting the raised flue pan. I often wondered why it took me so long to make the decision. Although you will not batch boil with a flue pan once you get it sweet it remains that way for the season. You may have to drain and clean it depending on nitre build up, more so on the syrup pan. In the end you will be happy with a flue pan. I forgot one thing include a blower for the arch.
Last edited by Pdiamond; 03-27-2022 at 08:28 PM.
2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
made 17 gal. syrup
2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 gal. syrup
2021 - Didn't work out
2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start
2025 - No tapping for me
I think I have a little trepidation with the flue and divided pans, because I know little about them other than just in general, but mostly I worry if I get enough sap in sufficient quantities to sweeten it and keep it going.
So far my collections have been 45 gallons, 45 gallons, 86 gallons, 70 gallons, 25 gallons and 44 gallons. (Now this coming Thursday flow looks so good, I could have well over a 100 gallons.)
Also it is my belief and it could be wrong, that you can have more disasters with the flue, divided pan combo, whereas a flat pan is pretty straightforward as long as you do not fall asleep or walk away from it.
I still have the find the right moment to approach my bride about it, which may come at the end of the season when I say I love sugar making and need something better for less smoke and greater efficiency.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Well my sons hockey season finished up for the season, so I will have some more time for syruping. We are going to take Thursday and Friday off and head out to the property for a few days. He's pretty excited to be missing school to make some syrup.
I went out today for a few hours to check on things and empty the buckets. Every bucket was pretty much over flowing with half water/ice. So I have around 100 gallon to boil down with more to come on Thursday by the looks of the weather.
watch the Smoky Lake video of the operation of the 2 x 4 raised flue operation, making better than 50 gph. If you have the float boxes and sight glasses on the float boxes you can set it up so that for the first year or two you run the flue pan and syrup pan a little deeper than necessary. I still run my syrup pan at 2 inches, that is where I feel comfortable with it. This year is the first year I ran the flue pan at 1.25 inches over the flues. Before I always ran it at 2 inches over. Its normal to feel that way about one of these rigs. And no matter what you use you NEVER leave it unattended when boiling.
2004 - 2012 2x3 flat pan 25 to 60 taps
2012 2x3 new divided pan w/draw off 55 taps
2018 - didn't boil surgery - bought new evaporator
2019 new SML 2x4 raised flue high output evap. 65 taps
made 17 gal. syrup
2020 - only put out 53 taps - made 16.25 gal. syrup
2021 - Didn't work out
2022 - 25 taps on bags / 8 taps on 3/16's line - late start
2025 - No tapping for me
I run a homebuilt air tight oil tank evaporator that has a flat 2x3 divided rear pan that feed a 2x2 divided front syrup pan. I am only on 51 taps and have no issues keeping this thing fed. I typically do multiple short boils per week after work in the 3 hour range and can avg 15GPH over a 3 hr boil. I do have an air under fire (AUF) blower and 2" of insulation in the arch. Big_Eddy is spot on with his evaporation rates, i can hit 20+GPH if i am running wrist size dry wood. The key is having the separate 2x2 front pan, if i was running just one single 2x5 pan i would have a harder time keeping it running with only 51 taps. Two weeks ago i had to drain the pans due to a super warm stretch we had and that 2x2 front pan is super quick to get sweetened again. I was pulling syrup off after about 50 gallons.
Last edited by The Heldeberg Sapper; 03-28-2022 at 07:32 AM.
Put the pails outside again during the day today, and removed some more ice. I put them back in garage which I am keeping at 3° for the sap.
I will likely boil the 40+ gallons tomorrow, once it warms up a little, as Wednesday’s weather is looking worse with freezing rain in the forecast. Thursday is still looking like a super day for sap flow.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Collected 130 litres with ice removed and boiled it to around 4 litres yesterday as it's not filtered.
I was able to figure out that is the minimal amount of sap I need to be able to finish it to syrup right in my flat pan without burning it if I keep the fire small when nearing the end. Then its just minimal propane burner to get it to brix. That's exciting for me as I was spending a lot of time on propane previously to get it to syrup and brixing it on my wife's stove in the house. She's happy too!!
Now I just have to use her stove for bottling.
2019 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 44 taps 13 Liters syrup
2020 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 51 taps 21 Liters syrup
2021- New homemade 2x3 evaporator and flat pan 80 drop lines to buckets
2022- (•,•)1350L naturally ROd sap 44L syrup
2023- "\_(°•°)_/" 1100L sap 30L syrup not accurate due to natural RO
2024 { ';' }1862L sap 52L syrup 52 drop lines to buckets