2x3 pan on 55 gallon drum too big??

[Kylebriant]

First Time Poster here...just wanted some opinions on if you think a 2'x3' pan is too big for a 55 gallon drum evaporator? I just started sugaring last year with the 55 gallon drum evaporator and 2 steam table pans but want to go bigger this year. I have plans to make a new evaporator out of a 275 gallon fuel tank for the 2019 season and want a 2'x3' pan on it so i'm thinking about buying the pan this year and modifying my 55 gallon drum so the pan will fit...The diameter of a 55 gallon drum is 22.5" and it's 33" long, so my pan would overhang the drum a little on both sides and on the front, what are everyone's thoughts on this?

[georgelineman]

Just my 2 cents. Just use your steam table pans again this season. When you make your new evaporator in the off season out of the fuel tank make it to fit a 2x4 pan. When I built my evaporator I made it 2x3 (I had 40taps then) and now with 81 taps I wish I built it 2x4. Plus there are more choices of 2x4 pans. Save your money and go just a little bigger you will regret it if you don't. Look at the smoky lake pans

2x3 flat pan regreter, george

[Kylebriant]

Thanks for the suggestion George...This is just a hobby for my father and I, we aren't selling any of our syrup, just giving it away to close friends and family. I wish i could make it a full time gig but work and life are always getting in the way! I have thought about a 2x4 pan for the new evaporator but i worry that i might be getting in over my head with too many taps for the amount of time i can devote to it. Generally my father and i collect throughout the week and boil on weekends. Do you have any experience with the Badgerland pans? They're made out of 22 ga. mirror finish stainless.

[georgelineman]

No I don't know about those pans. Its just a hobby for me too. and I am NOT going to get any bigger! I just wish I had made the evaporator a foot larger. With a sap pan and a syrup pan in front that you can draw off of. Now I do batches. and finish on propane.

good luck george

[maple flats]

While I have no experience with Badgerland pans, they are made as a basic entry level pan by Smoky Lake. I'll bet the welding is perfect, maybe some of the polishing might be less and maybe the SS stock might not be quite the same grade, but you can bet the quality is still very good. I have water jacketed bottler by Smoky Lake and it is perfect. Jim and his crew do excellent work and stand behind everything they make. I would not be afraid to buy a Badgerland pan.
I'd strongly suggest the 2x4, flat pan with dividers. Once you get used to boiling on one you will never look back, besides the cost difference is just $125 more than the 2x3 if I read their chart right.
However another thought if you expect to grow even more in a few years, a 2x3' pan now, then when you grow, add a 3' flues pan and you change for 6-9 gph evaporation to 25-35 gph just by adding a 3' flues pan. For that you'd need to build a longer arch.

[bmbmkr]

17494 Where there's a will, there's a way- 2 1/2 55's end to end, some angle iron from bed rails, a bunch of ceramic blanket and a few dozen half bricks- 18x42 drop flue, 18x30 syrup pan 18gph

[DrOriginal]

I have a 55 gallon barrel with a 2x3 pan. We had to add some flared sides with some angle iron on the top for the pan to sit on. Works well, the fire brick layout is a little strange at the flared sides, but it's not impossible. The only problem we have is front and back don't have fire brick, so we lose a lot of heat there. Of course that's also how we stay warm! We might put some ceramic blanket on the front and back for this spring. Try to keep all the heat inside we can.
1751217513

[Kylebriant]

Thanks DrOriginal...did you have to add any additional support where the bottom of the flares are welded to the 55 gallon drum, or did you just weld the flares to the barrel and call it good?

[DrOriginal]

I don't think we added any extra support, that's terrible I can't remember 100%. I don't think we did but you've got me questioning how it held the pan up without them. We did boil on it last year, and the pan didn't fall through, that I remember. Just brick it all the way up the sides. Which makes it super heavy. We have to use a front loader to move it.
We also had trouble getting a hard boil in our outside channels. We have a 4 channel pan, and the heat just doesn't flow out the flared sides as well as we would like. The sap still boils on the outside, but it boils better in the middle. Maybe a 3 channel pan would boil better. The 2 outside channels would be wider and might get more heat.

[Kylebriant]

I don't have a continuous flow pan, it's a 2x3 flat pan without channels so i'll be batch boiling. Thanks for the help!