[Syrupmakers] sorghum and Frost

[Keith Kinney]

Well yesterday, Saturday, was a beautiful day.  We finished up the 
last minute things like scrubbing out the pan and washing the 
skimmers etc.  Starting Grinding cane about 10:15.  We had about 1/2 
a pickup load of cane.  We ran have a Golden No. 27 mill and run it 
with a 12 HP Hercules hit and miss engine.  The mill and engine 
worked wonderfully.  The pan on the other had was a problem.  We had 
picked it up at an auction a few years ago and had not ever used 
it.  It has 2"X9" wooden sides with a copper bottom.  The copper is 
bent up on the sides about 3".  It leaked like a sieve at the 
corners.  So we ripped up an old sheet and stuffed it between the 
edges of the wood and the copper bottom and finally got the leaks 
slowed to a drip.   We only had about 3" of juice in the pan.  We had 
a roaring wood fire going and had it boiling with in 1/2 an hour or 
so.  But with the weight of the juice it caused the center of the 
bottom of the pan to bow down.  After the juice got shallower it 
caused the edges of the copper bottom to be exposed.  This caused hot 
spots and that's when our troubles really began.  We ended up with 
about 3 gallons of very thick, scorched sorghum.
While we didn't get any usable syrup, we had a great time trying.  O 
well, there is always next year.   Time to come up with a new pan design.
Pictures in a few days.
Keith




At 11:11 PM 11/3/2006, you wrote:
>We'll tomorrow, Saturday, is the day.  Last weekend we got the 
>furnace set up, the mill set up and the engine hooked up.  It was 
>supposed to get down to 25 degrees last night so we went out after 
>dark and cut about a 1/2 pickup load of cane.  With any luck 
>tomorrow we will grind and cook some Sorghum.
>Thanks for everyone's advice.  I'll let you know how it turns out.
>Keith
>
>
>At 08:17 PM 10/27/2006, you wrote:
>>Keith,
>>
>>Just checking to ask how your cane looks?  If you had a hard
>>freeze that lasted several hours, I would be a little leery of it
>>still being good.  If I were you, I would squeeze a gallon of it
>>and cook it on the stove before going through the trouble of
>>stripping grinding and cooking.  I made a whole batch several
>>years ago that hadn't frozen, but was way past maturity, and
>>it wasn't worth wasting a buttered biscuit on.  I learned then
>>that it was a good idea to make a test cooking to be sure the
>>juice was still good.
>>
>>Just a few days ago, Morris Bitzer sent a message to some of us
>>which contained a little blurb that might explain the problem.
>>
>>I quote:
>>
>>"I have had several calls about the frost or cold weather which
>>we got. We got down to 30 to 32 and out leaves are still mostly
>>green with some darkness to them where they were lightly frosted.
>>It takes 26 to 28 degrees for up to 4 hours to really do you
>>damage. If you get what you think is a killing, then cut and
>>squeeze in less than 48 hours. A hard freeze will usually turn the
>>leaves almost white."
>>
>>Take care.
>>
>>Ken
>>
>>
>> > [Original Message]
>> > From: Keith Kinney <kkinney at herculesengines.com>
>> > To: <syrupmakers at syrupmakers.net>
>> > Date: 10/26/2006 9:30:59 PM
>> > Subject: Re: [Syrupmakers] sorghum  and Frost
>> >
>> > I need some expert advise.  We had a light frost a couple of weeks
>> > ago that killed the leaves of our Sorghum Cane.  Night before last we
>> > got down to 28 degrees.  It will be another week before we will have
>> > a chance to harvest and cook.  Will the cane/juice be any good?
>> > Thanks.
>> > Keith
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Keith Kinney
>> > Evansville, Indiana  USA
>> > www.HerculesEngines.com
>> >
>> > ____________________________________________________
>> > If you grow sorghum and are not a member of the NSSPPA
>> > please check us out at: http://www.ca.uky.edu/nssppa/
>> > Syrupmakers archives are located at:
>> > http://lists.syrupmakers.net/pipermail/syrupmakers/
>> > ____________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>>____________________________________________________
>>If you grow sorghum and are not a member of the NSSPPA
>>please check us out at: http://www.ca.uky.edu/nssppa/
>>Syrupmakers archives are located at:
>>http://lists.syrupmakers.net/pipermail/syrupmakers/
>>____________________________________________________
>
>Keith Kinney
>Evansville, Indiana  USA
>www.HerculesEngines.com
>____________________________________________________
>If you grow sorghum and are not a member of the NSSPPA please check 
>us out at: http://www.ca.uky.edu/nssppa/
>Syrupmakers archives are located at:
>http://lists.syrupmakers.net/pipermail/syrupmakers/
>____________________________________________________
>
>
>
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>11/2/2006 5:15 PM

Keith Kinney
Evansville, Indiana  USA
www.HerculesEngines.com