Really cookin' !!

[Rick_Seebeck]

This is the second weekend with my homemade barrel evaporator. I had about 85 gallons of sap to boil and wanted to get some sleep as well! I rigged up a blow dryer with a sheet metal cone to direct the air into the draft opening and LOOK OUT! I just about had to chain the rig to the floor. Doubled my boil rate but burned out the fire grate. I am fabricating a new grate tomorrow out of 1/4 angle iron. I really had to watch the stack temp to keep from wasting wood. Great fun learning!

[RileySugarbush]

Rick,

How long did it take to boil off the 85 gallons? Sounds like you really have it going!

You might even burn up the angle steel if the air blows through the coals or fire and then on to the grate.

See if you can direct the air so it flows up through the grate and into the fire.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Thats kinda funny you mention that, yesterday i was moving things in our barn and found an air mover really powerful. I was like "this can be my blower" its plastic so all i did was put its 4 ft back and start her up toward the ash cleanout/draft door the steam tripled in mass and i was boiling off at 38-40 up from 25-28 However i find that sometimes its best when the blower is off. It really gets the most out of the wood though.


Keep up the ideas!

[matrob]

Rik,
I was going to build one of the angle iron grates you mention, but found an old cast iron sewer grate to use instead. Just thought I'd mention that the angles on the ones I looked at are V down. They say the ash in the iron helps insulate them. Good Luck.

Matt

[Rick_Seebeck]

I have two steam table pans sitting down in my barrel evaporator and was boiling about 4 gallons an hour. The blow dryer draft contraption gets me to about 7 gallons an hour. I am spending more on wood but less on beer. I think it is a wash!