Home-made vs commercial evaporator

[ComputerSteve]

Even though we're in the middle of this year's maple syrup season, I'm already thinking of next season. We have 37 taps this year, and I would like more next year. Luckily we have access to a high power 40 gallon tilt brazier at a local restaurant for boiling the sap. If I had to boil it all on the kitchen stove this year we'd never keep up. However we may not have access to the brazier next year. A Leader Half-pint can be gotten for around $1000. How difficult and costly would it be to home make my own evaporator from a 55 gallon steel barrel? Welding steel not a problem as my brother-in-law is good in that department. Also what would the cost differences be between heating with propane (clean) and wood (sooty)? Any other tips, suggestions, and personal experience is welcome.

[70 Buick]

I made one out of a barrel, whole thing cost less than 175.00 if you are resourcefull

check it out

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=9753

although if I did it again I think I would have used an oil tank , it is bigger & probably the same work

[ComputerSteve]

70 Buick - That's a nice sugar shack you've got there. Your evaporator is exactly what I had in mind. It looks like it uses easily found stainless steel restaurant steam trays. Did you have plans to follow for building it, or did you design it as you built it? At what point (tap count) did you decide that you needed to make your barrel evaporator?

[70 Buick]

designed as I went LOl
I just couldn't get a good boil with thew wood stove found I wasted alot of wood
plus it was hard to keep a boil when the wind came up

I have about 45 taps , but could tap alot more we will see how well it boils

[3fires]

I made one from a 275 gallon fuel oil tank, there is a thread here somewhere of it, and you can see it in the links below. It's definitely not state of the art, but it does work, I'm getting close to 10 gph with it now, and could get even more if I added another pan and preheated my sap. Mine cost 170 OTD bricks and all, and I paid 70 bucks for the tank.

But, if I knew someone who would weld for me I'd fab one from scratch and not use any barrel whatsoever. There are some real nice plans floating around here somewhere. It would probably cost less in the long run and be easier to use.

[ComputerSteve]

I'm going to have to search for plans. Another member, KEV, brought up the question of salvaging a furnace burner to use to power an evaporator. I'll have to to see if I can merge the two ideas and still come out less expensive than commercial. A friend is an HVAC tech and could probably get the furnace parts for very little cost. I feel a summer project developing. If I decide to roll my own, I'll be sure to take pics and post plans.

[hispls]

I've seen some pretty nice looking home-made ones out of 55 gallon drums. It seems a popular strategy for a back-yarder.

[fixer46]

Even though we're in the middle of this year's maple syrup season, I'm already thinking of next season. We have 37 taps this year, and I would like more next year. Luckily we have access to a high power 40 gallon tilt brazier at a local restaurant for boiling the sap. If I had to boil it all on the kitchen stove this year we'd never keep up. However we may not have access to the brazier next year. A Leader Half-pint can be gotten for around $1000. How difficult and costly would it be to home make my own evaporator from a 55 gallon steel barrel? Welding steel not a problem as my brother-in-law is good in that department. Also what would the cost differences be between heating with propane (clean) and wood (sooty)? Any other tips, suggestions, and personal experience is welcome.

Built mine out of a 55 gallon drum last year. Then I folded a piece of stateless steel and welded the corners. This year I bought a very nice pan off from eBay. Last night I was boiling 9 to 10 gallons per hour.The Half pinter can do no better. A good grate, proper installation, a small fan, and good wood is all you need. When you come straight down to it. An arch is an arch is an arch

[Russell Lampron]

From talking with someone that thought he was making an upgrade going from a barrel evaporator to a 1/2 pint I recommend the barrel evaporator. He went from a 10 gallon per hour evap rate to 5 gallons per hour. He had a flat pan set up on it much like the 1/2 pint but smaller to fit the barrel.

[C.Wilcox]

Steve,

I have a plain jane 275 gallon fuel oil drum arch with a 2X4 flat pan that my dad and I built. It's nothing fancy, but it does about 8-10 gallons an hour and is easy to use. If your brother in law is good with welding it might be a decent way to go. I run anywhere from 25 to 50 taps on it without any trouble. If you're interested in seeing it, taking measurements, etc. just let me know. I'm probably 20-30 minutes from you guys. I have some pictures of it in this thread:
http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=6923&highlight=fuel+drum

[Indiana-Jones]

Built mine out of a 55 gallon drum last year. Then I folded a piece of stateless steel and welded the corners. This year I bought a very nice pan off from eBay. Last night I was boiling 9 to 10 gallons per hour.The Half pinter can do no better. A good grate, proper installation, a small fan, and good wood is all you need. When you come straight down to it. An arch is an arch is an arch

Nice looking arch. This is my first year sugaring. I butchered an existing barrel stove and married it to a army mess pan. My plan for next year is very much like yours, to make a barrel stove purpose built for making syrup, with the all of the square inches of pan she can take.

All of that cement board on the sides is for some insulation and I used it to hold a pre-heater pan cock-eyed over the main pan so that the condensation dripped outside. If we fired it hard we could get 5-6 GPH. Next year I want 10 to 12.

[ComputerSteve]

C.Wilcox,

I like your pics. The design looks simple yet effective doing 8-10 gallons an hour. My son (maplematt) and I would be interested in seeing your operation. You're running about the same number of taps as we have this year.

I'll PM you to work out a visit if you don't mind.