first time making syrup... barrel build

[sirsloop]

Hey guys, first time making syrup. My family used to make syrup when I was a kid in the Watkins Glen, NY area. I've since moved to NJ and figured it would be a good year to make some! I'm starting out with 10 taps on reds... hard to find sugar maples this far south. So after some looking around I figured a barrel build would be a good cheap way to get in to the hobby. I picked up my barrel for $4 down at the scrap yard, got a flue and 6"x60" stack, a couple cater trays, and a metal grate. You know the deal... cut it a door, chop the sides, install the stack, and fire it up. I rigged up a 2" blower to fit on the front of the barrel for AUF. I'll be adding bout 75# of sand to the bottom to flatten it out, then lining it with brick. The whole thing will sit on cinder blocks next to my wood pile. Hoping to end up with bout 2 gallons of syrup at the end of the season. My barrel is nearly finished... just cut in the tray holes last night. Should be ready to go this week. I plan on getting an aquarium pump and some copper tubing to make a preheater. I'll wrap the copper around the stack and just continually pump it. I'll have a bypass that goes back in to a sap bucket so it doesn't scorch. I'm tapping trees on sunday. Any tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

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[sirsloop]

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[sweetmoomoo]

looking good JD H, i told you to look out for that maple bug. alot of good info on this site about barrel arches.

[chad]

I would get some angle iron supports around the pans otherwise you could end up pouring your sap on the fire when the barrel gets red hot and soft just my 2 cents

[ronintank]

I boiled on a drum heater the last 2 years. After every boil I had to work on the drum to make is better. On the plus side I did make 14 gallons of syrup on it last season.
You will have to add angle iron to support the pans, or the weight of the pans filled with sap will bend the hot sheet metal sides and they will bend down.
Another thing you will have is the sides of your pan will be so hot that the boiling sap that splashes up on the sides will burn and you will have some really dark and kinda burnt tasting syrup.

[sirsloop]

Thanks for the tips. I can use some of the barrel metal that I trimmed off to fit under the edge of the pan on the side. it'll attach under the flap to shield the long edges of the pan. I don't really know what could be done to shield the sides that are sunk in to the barrel. I suppose I could run the pans on the full side to prevent scorching... when I get around 8gal I can switch to running just the rear pan and boil water in the front pan. When I get down under 5 gallons of concentrate I can pull it entirely and finish it off in my 10gal ss pot on a turkey fryer. I'm sure thats the tactic for barrel arch guys... move the syrup around as the pans dry up.

Which areas should I reinforce with angle? The flaps, the center round section, or both? Should I make another brace like I did in the middle for the front part? That rear top round part is pretty solid as its close to the back of the barrel.

[ronintank]

need to add something like this that can weld or bolt to the inside drum ends and the drum sides, that will support the ends of your pans.
You will be amazed how red the drum will get after extended boiling with the fan.10645

[sirsloop]

should be easy enough to bolt on... I even have some perfect scrap metal that fits the bill..

[dblact38]

Great job, but make sure you burn all that paint off, before you have your first real boil. Otherwise, your going to have paint dust[chips] burning off the barrel, going airborne and flying on to your batch of sap. Goodluck, Welcome to the ADDICTION!!!

[sirsloop]

Yep I'll do another full on fire with water testing out my preheater, etc etc... get a raging pallet wood fire goin in there heheh

[Lukie]

I added cement block around the out side to save the heat and what a diffrence1066610667

[cowboyott]

Hi Guys,

My first barrel build also. 10695

My question: When boiling, do you move sap from lower heat to higher heat, or opposite? do you just move the whole pan? or scoop sap from one to the other?

-tim

[sirsloop]

that'll git'r

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[Jonnyp390]

Cowboyott - "My question: When boiling, do you move sap from lower heat to higher heat, or opposite? do you just move the whole pan? or scoop sap from one to the other?"


I have a barrel that I have used for the past two years. I treat my back pan as my sap pan and my front as my syrup pan. I scoop from my back pan and dump in my front pan, then scoop from my preheater to refill my back pan. I never scoop out of my front pan as that is where the syrup is concentrated down. With my evaporator, I can usually boil 30-50 gallons of sap before I get near syrup in the front pan and lift the pan out to empty through a cone filter and into a bucket. This year, I am going to boil just past the syrup point on the evaporator, then dilute with sap when I filter and bottle in my kitchen.

You will need a good metal scoop for all that dippin'. I bought a 6" deep, 1/6 steam table pan from a restaurant supply store, cut the top lip off, and screwed on a stainless cabinet handle. Whole thing cost less than $10 and 2-3scoops = a gallon.

[Quagmire33]

1071910719

Here's a picture of my barrel evap I made a few years ago. Works well but remember that you have to keep your pans full or the sides will scorch where the pan is in the fire

[bushmoose]

This year, I am going to boil just past the syrup point on the evaporator, then dilute with sap when I filter and bottle in my kitchen.



I'm really curious why you would bring it past the syrup point, then dilute it, intentionally?

[Super Sapper]

I'm really curious why you would bring it past the syrup point, then dilute it, intentionally?

I do the same, it is so you do not have to "finish" later if it happens to be too thin. Taking off a point or 2 heavy and diluting it when you bottle assures that you will not have to reboil it when it comes time to bottle.

[Jonnyp390]

I second what Super Sapper said. When you pull a gallon or so off the evap, take it inside only to realize you still have a few degrees to go, it might take another hour on your kitchen stove. When you are all setup to bottle, that is a pain. Not to mention what the paint above my stove looks like after a "Finishing" a few batches inside on the stove. Its alot quicker to add a little hot sap to the pot than it is to boil off more.

As far as your syrup scorching on the sides of your pans, I framed around the pan with angle steel so that only the bottom 2" of the pan is exposed to the fire. As long as you keep your sap above that line, you will never scorch. You can check out my build in this link (if it works)

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?23101-55-Gallon-Barrel-Evaporator-Meet-quot-Mr.-Syrup-quot

the first 3 pictures show my pan frame and the screws I use on the corners to level the pans and control how deep they sit.

[chad]

isn't one of the points of boiling sap down to syrup is to have a non-bacteria infested bottle by adding tap water or hot sap to over cooked syrup you run the risk of making not so pure maple syrup, maybe I am an idiot but I prefer to make syrup out of what comes out of the trees only, otherwise I would just buy maple sugar and ad water on the stove every time we wanted the good stuff

[cowboyott]

I think Jonnyp is saying he dilutes it with sap that has already been boiling, so I dont think that would pose a threat with bacteria.

Jonny, is your back pan your hotter pan, and your front pan less heat for "finish" boiling?

[sirsloop]

so I figured you guys are having issues with side burnage on the cater trays... I had some of that extra barrel material left over from trimming. I tacked it on to act as sort of a deflector. I used some scrap bed frame angle iron to go along the sides in between the trays. Its not a perfect seal, but will help keep the hot gas from going straight up the front and back sides. The little deflectors will get the hot gasses deflected towards the center of the pans. nvm the flux core git'r dun welding HAHAHAH

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[Jonnyp390]

I think Jonnyp is saying he dilutes it with sap that has already been boiling, so I dont think that would pose a threat with bacteria.

Jonny, is your back pan your hotter pan, and your front pan less heat for "finish" boiling?

Yes when you add sap, you are adding it to the 219-220 degree syrup as it is heated on the stove, thus killing any germs and keeping the syrup pure. Once the hot syrup measures correct on your hydrometer, you then filter and bottle.

Both of my pans boil pretty well, but I would guess the back pan is a little hotter. I just added 30 copper drop tubes to my back pan, so I hope it boils MUCH faster than the front pan. I just hope it doesn't shoot sap clear out of the pan like 30 miniature geysers. Only one way to find out.

[sirsloop]

screwin around in the garage again... patiently waiting for sap and doing little improvements to the barrel. Side shield added on the front and middle. You can also see some of the souped up fireplace grate on the bottom. Just tacked on some cut to size 3/8" rebar to make it larger. I'll probably add a couple extra pieces. I'm gonna add some brick to the bottom... just waiting to see what that looks like. I also have some 2" exhaust pipe i'll be tacking to the inside of the barrel for my AUF blower. It'll shoot air right into the bottom of the grate.

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[sirsloop]

added rear shield in between the rear pan and the flue... more additions to hopefully minimize scorching along the sides. At this point both pans are pretty much fully shielded. I'll probably fire up a test run over the weekend but it should be bout good as its gonna get. I'll be adding some sand in the bottom and bricks along the side. I'm still debating on getting like 30 cinderblocks to go around the thing. Not sure if I really want to haul 900 pounds of cinderblocks home HAHAHAH

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[sirsloop]

sand in the bottom, lined with stone... I'll probably take out the red bricks. I had them layin around but I dont think its doing anything. I think I have a 12x12" paver I may stick on the back there. Notice the 2" pipe on the bottom hole... going under the grate for AUF.

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Im firing it up tomorrow for a boil test... we'll see how she burns!

[sirsloop]

fired up... shes cooks real nice!

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[Pauly V]

Good Luck this year!

[TerryEspo]

That arch is a keeper, looks great, nice job, love the pics. Best of luck this year.

Terry

[zzammon]

Computer fans work well for a small blower. They are 12v motors so you can remove the power pack and connect to a battery for secluded set ups, if desired. Careful they can melt, comes from experience. I appolgise if this was already mentioned, as I didn't read through the three pages.

[sirsloop]

yeah thats why I went with the 12"x2" metal extension... keep the fans away from the barrel as much as possible. I don't leave them on there turned off... always on when connected to the barrel.