Barrel or block?

[red4476]

Last year was my first. Only have 6 taps so nothing big. I used a cement block with a steam pan. It worked well. This year I had the idea of using a barrel evaporator. Before I cut the barrel for the pans I am now second guessing myself and thinking I can simply sell the barrel as a barrel stove. Is a barrel stove any better than the cinderblocks? I would put sand in the bottom then line the bottom and sides with firebrick. Also, how long do you burn your barrels out to get the nasty out? Thanks for helping a newbie!

[darkmachine]

I can give you my 2 cents. We started out with a block arch built on the ground. We filled the inside with earth and clay to make a ramp so the heat would stay close to the pan. It was significant amount of mass to bring up to temperature. I noticed right away when we went to a metal arch how much less wood/energy it took to put a boil on the pan. We never used steam pans, we had a flat divided pan. The whole contraption was a fire breathing monster, lol. The more you can do to keep the energy under the pan and contributing to your boil the more efficient you will operate, the fun is finding out how to do that without breaking the bank.

[Waynesgarden]

Late to the party on this thread. What did you end up going with?

I built the crude block arch last year with steam pans, my first year making syrup. This year I built the barrel arch using the door and legs from a barrel stove kit, a cast iron flue collar with a flat back I found online, and a large Vermont Evaporator divided pan. Lined the bottom with ceramic insulation and firebrick and bought a grate for it.

As Darkmachine noted, the amount of wood required was very much less than last year, firing up was much faster and boiling time was much less. The hinged door made regulating the temps easier and having the whole setup up a bit off the ground made for a more pleasant experience keeping the fire fed. The grate, which I didn't have in the block arch, kept the fire much hotter by allowing air below the wood.

Next year, I'll try forced air below the fire and devise a preheater pan.

Night and day.

[darkmachine]

When we finally had too many pinholes in our 6x6 flat pan to seal up with burnt sugar, we broke down and built a 2x6 arch out of angle iron(with forced air), then drove 5 hours one way to buy used pans that weren't made to work together, slapped them together anyway(welding) and then wondered why we hadn't done it sooner. My brother and i just kinda stood and looked at each other like "what are we supposed to do with all our time now that we aren't regulating sap, and putting out fires". It was a game changer. If you are really hooked, save your pennies and wait for a good deal to come along on metal if you can weld, or someone who wants to pass on their gear that's just a little bit bigger than what you have. Grow a little each year. I have what my wife calls the "maple syrup fund", all the money from syrup sales go into the fund(bag), and any extra here and there, that's my budget for the next season, maybe this belongs in the "philosophy" section, lol. I think the point i was headed toward is, be as efficient as you can within your budget and you will have a good time! Like Waynesgarden (http://mapletrader.com/community/member.php?150483-Waynesgarden) said upgrades are like night and day.

[red4476]

Late to the party on this thread. What did you end up going with?

I built the crude block arch last year with steam pans, my first year making syrup. This year I built the barrel arch using the door and legs from a barrel stove kit, a cast iron flue collar with a flat back I found online, and a large Vermont Evaporator divided pan. Lined the bottom with ceramic insulation and firebrick and bought a grate for it.

As Darkmachine noted, the amount of wood required was very much less than last year, firing up was much faster and boiling time was much less. The hinged door made regulating the temps easier and having the whole setup up a bit off the ground made for a more pleasant experience keeping the fire fed. The grate, which I didn't have in the block arch, kept the fire much hotter by allowing air below the wood.

Next year, I'll try forced air below the fire and devise a preheater pan.

Night and day.

I ended up building the barrel. It worked well but I think I'm going to add a ceramic blanket and then just set firebrick on top. Lost so much heat out the sides. Also I had a bad cut on the top so I got to find a way to seal a gap. I was pleased with it overall.

[red4476]

Here is what it looked like. 22717