Rebuilding my Cinder Block Arch

[vtgaryw]

It's served me well for the last 6 or 7 years, but my lack of foresight has caught up with me. As you can see, the blocks have starting sinking causing the cinder block to start coming loose and cracking. This in turn meant the firebrick inside has come loose as well. My mistake was in not putting the thing on a single floating slab. I had a poured footing just under the blocks themselves. I then poured a concrete floor inside the cinder block.

14396

I've torn it all down, and have the forms in place to make a solid slab under the whole thing, the thickness of a 2x4 on edge. I was going to do the same design using steam table pans, but then I got to thinking - do I want to replace the pans with a 2'x3' evaporator pan? Is it worth it? My only problem with the steam table pans is that they are pretty thin and tend to warp somewhat, but overall they've worked well. Is it worth the $ 500+ for a professionally made pan? And if I went that way, how would I mount it?

One consideraton - we'll probably be moving in 4 or 5 years when we retire, so I don't have that much longer on this setup.

Oh, I should mention, I have about 30-35 taps, on a good year I make about 5 gallons at the most.

Any thoughts?

-gary

[On the ledge]

I picked up a used leader 1/2 pint for 700 dollars look for something like that. You could sell it when you move and probably get most your money back. The one I bought came with firebrick and stack.

[stoneslabs]

I also would check craigslist and other used sites for a set-up that would suit your needs, I picked up a 27" X 48 homemade divided flat pan with a 27X30" syrup pan for $280 a few years ago, the I built my arch to fit. if you dont plan on expanding, and the steam pans work well enough for you, a 2X3 pan seems pricey for a few years of boiling.

[vtgaryw]

I think I'll size it to use the steam table pans, but I found a place that will build pans for you to your dims for a fairly reasonable price, so if I want to go that way down the road I can.

In the meantime, I was pretty happy with my last design (other than that not holding up thing.... ) but I just want to run a few design considerations past people, to see if I can improve at all.

1) I had a grate that I built, and put it about 4-5" above the floor for airflow. Just high enough to shove a 4" stovepipe under with a blower to increase airflow. Does 4-5" sound about right?

2) How much height above the grate should the bottom of the pans be ideally? I had about 18" last time.

3) How high up should the exit for the stovepipe come out of the back? I had it out of the approximate middle, but I've seen some people have it coming out higher up, but it seems like some of the air flow would be blocked by the pans?

4) Finally, 6" stovepipe okay? Any need to go bigger?

Thanks,

Gary

[vtgaryw]

Oops, one more question:

5) I ran the firebrick right up to the bottom of the pans. Is there any advantage to running it all the way up so it lines the actually area where the sides of the pans are?

Thanks,

-gary