Cheap starter pan

[moose]

I have used car gas tanks as quick evaporator pans.
It might not be as easy to get those big flat tanks that we used to get off those 60's gas guzzlers as it used to be but I'm sure theres still some around.
Just fill it with water and cut the top off with a chisel, an air chisel works great.
You can put one behind another on blocks and really go to town.

[markct]

wow an interesting idea, but i cant help but wonder if your syrup ends up with a bit or an unleaded taste, every tank i have ever cut apart, propane, gas etc, stunk like gas for what seemed like months regardless of the washing and rinsing. also, what about the rusting, i have not seen too many tanks that were stainless, a few aluminum, but i dont know how that would be for syrup

[hard maple]

That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of....

[peacemaker]

yup sure is hard

[jemsklein]

make sure you clean them really good

[maplwrks]

You really shouldn't be using anything that held a petroleum product to hold sap or syrup. Remember----you are producing a food product! It really won't help your sales either.....

[Maple Restoration]

Be very very cautious about using gas tanks the more you boil with them the more you will draw out the contaminates from the tank and the more concentrated they will be in your syrup. This will give all your hard work a very bad off flavor.

[325abn]

Your kidding right?

[H. Walker]

I wouldn't do it, but it is definitely thinking outside the box!!!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

this is a joke right??

[Dennis H.]

I would like a pint of syrup, High Test Please.:p

[Jim Brown]

Boy! we who try to do right can only hope it is a joke!!

[twigbender]

Us Norskies would say: Oof Dah!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

What is the next thing, a metal septic tank?? Not something the news media would need to get a hint of.

[The Sappy Steamer]

As long as you use a tank from a vehicle that is less than eight years old you will be fine. Just use the top half of the tank. No one has been able to fill their tanks over half full since Bush has been in office, so it wont have that funky gassy taste like the bottom part would have. You may prefer to use the dug out log and warm horseball method instead though. It makes a better grade of syrup.

[moose]

Ain't no joke.
The tanks are tinned on the inside.
They're very thin and are great for boiling.
I've done this with 3 tanks thru the years.
Obviously you have to clean them good.
A friend of mines father did this . He had 100 trees tapped.
I did same when I was a kid. I made 2 pans this way for my kids when they boiled sap when they were teemagers. I kept the pans and used them twice this week.
Moose

[markct]

hmm yea had forgotten about the fact they are tinned on the inside, that has me even more worried since who knows if the tinning is lead free?????? i realy hope that you wernt selling this syrup, this is the kinda thing that get the public all worked up, and understandably so,thus pushes for more regulations on syrup making

[Teuchtar]

A quick check using the marvel of Google, says that gas tanks were normally made of Terne plate. This is sheet steel, coated with a mix of tin and lead.

There's that L-word again.

I don't think I'd want my kids taking that maple syrup.

[Uncle Tucker]

So, if your using used gas tanks (which could be lined with lead) to boil on then are you using old cat liter boxes to hold your sap in????

PLEASE DON’T SELL YOUR SYRUP!!! You will give the rest of us a bad name.

[Sugardaddy]

If you're desperate for cheap starter gear, look on ebay and be patient. In the past year I've set myself up with:

2 12x17 steam table pans. Approx $35 for both with shipping. Nestled next to each other they work passably well to boil off 4-5 gallons per hour on a good brisk fire. The sides slope out and the sides places towrds each other act as another gathering point for heat. These will now become preheating pans because of the next item down.

1 36x60 sheet of stainless. Approx $80. A bit thin, but a friend is just finishing up with a TIG weld and fold construction of a 30"x24" pan that will give me an easy 7 gph rate.

1 21x21 ss steam table pan. About $21 with shipping. Just got this and I'll probably install a valve to use it as a finishing pan.


I'm going to carry over 6 tons of sap by hand this year. I want to be comfortable with what I boil down in.

[MR Electrician]

yup ive heard some stupid stuff in the past but this ones one of the worst.

do you have any idea what lead can do to yr kids.
look in the mirror .
do you want this for yr kids .
why not use an old kitchen sink its stainless steel no lead.
or an old cast iron bathtub over a fire is safer than a gas tank.
so do you keep loaded guns in the hall closet too.
and of coarse the big one were yr parents related before they got married.


ok now before you all rip me a new one ,i have to add this is even dumber than cuting fuel tanks with a torch .

if you only knew the chemicals that are added to gasoline in the refinery
im amased yr still alive to talk about it.:eek: :mad:

[SeanD]

1 21x21 ss steam table pan. About $21 with shipping. Just got this and I'll probably install a valve to use it as a finishing pan.


Hey Suggardaddy,

I also use a flat pan/steam pan combo. I like your idea of converting one to a finish pan that you can draw from. How are you going to put the valve on the finishing pan for draw off? Don't your steam pans sit down into the fire?

I'm in the process of converting one of my pans to a preheater with valve, but I have to raise it up in back of the sap pan so it can dribble in.

[hard maple]

This reminds me of a story I was told buy a large bulk syrup buyer in this neck of the woods.
Maybe 15 years ago a sugarmaker showed up with a 55 gallon drum of syrup he was looking to sell.
Problem being = it still had the 10w30 sticker on the drum and after removing the cap it had a nice "rainbow" color on the top of the syrup....

Needless to say, he was told to get the drum out of there.

These kind of story's are scary and detrimental to industry as a whole.
If you don't have enough pride to produce a safe and quality product you shouldn't even bother.

[maplekid]

do what i did i went to walmart got 3 bake pans (for like making corn bread)and and trow them on your arch they make some of them 2-3 foot wide. i would not let children or anyone else for that matter eat the product that came out of those pans. it is cost effective but do you want cost effective or safe.

[Sugardaddy]

Hey Suggardaddy,

I also use a flat pan/steam pan combo. I like your idea of converting one to a finish pan that you can draw from. How are you going to put the valve on the finishing pan for draw off? Don't your steam pans sit down into the fire?

I'm in the process of converting one of my pans to a preheater with valve, but I have to raise it up in back of the sap pan so it can dribble in.

My pans don't sit down in the fire. I could jump the evap rate with 2 pans to about 12 gallons per hour that way (I think), but would have to constantly and steadily add sap to avoid developing a burnt sugar line. Considering the fact that I was working with round cooking pots last year and getting a peak rate of maybe 2 gph, I'm happy with the progress we've made.

i haven't the foggiest idea how to put the vavlve in yet. Was plannning to ask here once I got my larger pan back from my friend! I don't weld, so i was hoping to find some kind of compression fitting that can withstand the heat.

[jemsklein]

ok here is a link http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=200198213921&_trksid=p3984.cWAT.m240.lVI that has an evaporator for sale wich is a 6 hour drive but for $650 you would save your self and your kids from future health problems or for $69 you can buy 6 new steam table pans that are 6" deep that is
i started with 4 steam table pans 9" deep and got maybe 12-18 gph and it worked fine and it would save your self from huge hospital bills



ps. as MR Electrician said about the chemicals in the gas i would take his word he workes in the alberta tar sands and he is exposed to these chemicals every day.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

then we wonder why BIG BROTHER steps in and makes all the regulations that hold us down.

RICH

[super sappy]

Hey did you guys know that if you use battery acid for defoamer late in the season then all of your dark syrup will turn light. And it cleans your pans shipshape. You can also avoid those costly filters by using a dead coon packed into the bottom of a large funnel. I cant believe this thread !!!!!!!!!!!!! SS

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ok, let's put this to rest. I think everyone gets the point.

Best thing is that if you are going to do something like this, please don't tell anyone.

[SeanD]

My pans don't sit down in the fire. I could jump the evap rate with 2 pans to about 12 gallons per hour that way (I think), but would have to constantly and steadily add sap to avoid developing a burnt sugar line. Considering the fact that I was working with round cooking pots last year and getting a peak rate of maybe 2 gph, I'm happy with the progress we've made.

i haven't the foggiest idea how to put the vavlve in yet. Was plannning to ask here once I got my larger pan back from my friend! I don't weld, so i was hoping to find some kind of compression fitting that can withstand the heat.

How do you keep them up? Did you make a plate from sheet metal with a hole in it so the pan nests in it an inch or so? I hate the burn line too, but I feel like it's the cost of doing business on the cheap. If you have a good fix, let me know.

For putting the valve in, go to the thread called "cheap preheater idea?" from a few weeks ago under Homemade Equipment. There, a bunch of guys gave me advice on the process. I opted for John Bushey's advice about soldering the copper threaded bushing in. I can't weld either.

Cutting the hole ended up being the easiest part. I decided to give the hole saw a try before I bought an expensive bit. It went right through it!

I had a heck of a time tinning the stainless, though until I did some research on my flux. It was not rated for stainless. I'm going to the store to get different flux today, so hopefully by this evening I'll have a finished product. In the end (if all goes well), I'll post some pics and some thanks over in that thread. Hope this helps you.

Sorry to get everyone off the topic of using gas tanks as pans. Seriously?

[RileySugarbush]

The burn line doesn't hurt your syrup, so if you want to have a high evaporation rate, drop the pans in the heat. I coked that way for years. The time you save evaporating will be greater than that needed to clean the pans at the end of the season.

If you really don't like the burn line, but would like the a higher rate, drop only one or two of the pans all the way in and treat them like flue pans Let your feed line trickle in them and ladle out into the finishing pans as required. The lower sugar concentration will minimize the burning, but not eliminate it.

[hard maple]

This has actually been a real good thread.
This forum is somewhat focused on "what to do" and "what not to do"
And with that comes some negative feedback
Everyone has the right to say their peace.
I don't know where someone decides that's enough..the thread is done!!!

[Sugardaddy]

I use an old BBQ pit as an evaporator and the pans are on the top grate. I could remove the grate and henag them (fit almost perfectly), but I've choosen not to. The new pan will fit the grate perfectly, maximizing efficiency.

I saw your other thread and will go back to it.

Thanks!

Ed

[MR Electrician]

i once worked for a chemical company .
one day we discovered that one of the chemicals smells and tastes just like ginn.
so we started drinking the stuff during our coffee break.
and lunch.we got a reall good buzz of it.

well the next day i got a call from my co worker , he asked me the weirdest thing.

he said !
hey dirk did you pass wind yet.

no i said why?
he said well that stuff we were drinking was rocket fuel for nasa.



and right now im in alaska.....:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
and the moral of the story is when boiling syrup in an old gas tank
be carefull passing gas.:confused: :confused: