[Syrupmakers] excelsior mill

Mon Feb 4 16:27:08 PST 2008

Ken, We use a 330 gallon syrup kettle. The weight id 3026 lbs. It takes a 1.2 million btu burner but we can pull 33-35 gallons of syrup in 6.5 hours first cookin and 5 the second. Never had it in me to do a third. The best cooking kettle I have is a 160 gallon. It is shallow and wide and has a very wide lip. We used it before we figured out how to put a ring on the out side lip of the kettle instead of just the inside. When we cooked with wood, a wide lip made cooking much easier. Tommy

Ken Reit <Reit8472 at SW.RR.COM> wrote:        v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}                Tommy, are we to understand that you cook 300 plus gallons a cooking?? What size and type of pan do you have?

  Ken reitsma

    From: syrupmakers-bounces at syrupmakers.net [mailto:syrupmakers-bounces at syrupmakers.net] On Behalf Of tom clayton
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:37 AM
To: syrupmakers at syrupmakers.net
Subject: Re: [Syrupmakers] excelsior mill

  Peter, I had a Excelsior #43 A. The rollers were 18 1/2 in long and the top roller never had grooves. The mill would grind fine if ran at apprx 10-12 rpm. If I tried to speed it up, the cane was difficult to feed. Also, most of us have gone to saw blade type cane cutters and this eliminates the cut angle left by hand held cane cutters. The angle allows you to feed butt ends first, which are easily taken into the mill. When I do 2 cookings, I grind 660 gallons in the AM and time is a factor. If I was just grinding 80-100 gallons a day, I would slow the mill down and not regroove the top roller. Hope this helps, Tommy in North Florida

ptrpdt at aol.com wrote: 
  thanks,I had been told that if grooves were worn cane would not pull through. Just concerned that when I need to use mill and I fail to repair it it will be a real problem to make a quick fix. If 
it will work without excessive extra work I would rather leave it as is. that being said I would like to hear feedback on this issue as I have no milling experience.

                                                       thanks,peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Harrison <rharrison922 at yahoo.com>
To: syrupmakers at syrupmakers.net
Sent: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 3:51 am
Subject: Re: [Syrupmakers] excelsior mill
      Peter,

        Top rollers don't absolutely HAVE to be grooved anyway. They will squeeze the cane anyway. I think the grooves serve 2 purposes maybe: 

              (1) to help pull the cane through the mill, and 

              (2) to provide channels for the juice to run down away from the crushed stalks. It      probably helps the efficiency of the mill a little.

       My opinion is that horizontal grooves improve the grabbing ability of the rollers better than vertical grooves. Vertical grooves probably make better juice channels. 1 man I know has his Goldens' 27 power mill grooved BOTH ways on the top roller.

                                                         Richard Harrison

Ptrpdt at aol.com wrote:

      Thanks for the info. I was not sure if a roller is cast thick enough for re grooving without taking a chance on weakening the roller enough to cause damage when grinding cane. thought about building roller up with cast high alloy rods and turning on a lathe but at $76 a pound for rods I can buy a mill cheaper by the time I am done. might split a piece of pipe if i can find the right size and weld it to the roller and groove it as last resort.

                                                                                                     thanks, peter

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