evap pan

[tpatch361]

Can a person use steel? If no why? Stainless steel is a lot of money for a hobby.

[Haynes Forest Products]

You can use plain steel it will rust be hard to clean. We cook with cast iron dont we. But please dont down grade the need to spend as much money as possible on a hobby:o Wives read this site to:cool:

[beehappy1950]

I use a steel pan. I sand blasted it. Then if you put it up when not in use. It will be fine. I have made app. 10 gallons this year and have 2 days and 3 nights to go. The only benefit I can see is if you run out of sap with stainless you can just shut it down and let it set for a week. Mine would probably have some rust if I did that. Syrup tastes just as good. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[Ausable]

Can a person use steel? If no why? Stainless steel is a lot of money for a hobby.

Some advice - If You are just starting out and plan on being a "Backyarder" --A person making maple syrup for fun - family and friends .... Buy a copy of Rlnk Mann's book "Backyard Sugarin -- Has a lot of ideas on how to make syrup and keep the costs down. Or - If you really want to keep the cost down and not buy a book --- really check out this web site and you will find a ton of great ideas for the person starting out.
There is a mixed bag of maple syrup makers on this site - People with giant operations and thousands of trees who have to be efficient to make money and little guys - like myself (Backyarders) who just make syrup on small scales. All will give you helpful advice.
Hey -- to answer your question about steel - I used a steel open pan for years and now a home-made steel arch and evaporator. Yep - steel is somewhat harder to clean then stainless and does not look as pretty - but - it works and makes maple syrup. The Commercial Guys sell to the public and are inspected at a state level and have guidelines to follow and must make money to stay in business - so - they have a little different mindset then we have. --- but - we all make maple syrup -- have fun - and make lots of syrup in the future --- Mike

[KenWP]

Once you boil once with a steel pan the metal will be coated with niter and will slow down the rust inside the pan. If I could find the right metal I would go regular steel even as it is a little cheaper to weld on. I would be able to make up a drop flue of some kind with a lot less work then useing thin SS and solder.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have heard other people that used steel pans take crisco and rub it all over the inside of the pan at the end of the season and next year before starting, they wash it out good and it keeps it rust free. Don't know, never tried it.

[Big_Eddy]

Leave the soot on the outside.
When you pour your last batch out of the pan, leave the insides as is. Don't wash it out. Hang it high and dry. It will be fine and will never rust. Mine is 20+ years old and does not show any signs of rusting.

Clean the soot off the outside and pressure wash the insides at the beginning of each season before the first batch.

[tpatch361]

Thanks for the info. I used the steel pan and it worked great. I left the niter in it until next year. Next year I am installing a draw off and and a preheater pan. Anybody have the locations of others who have built the arch from 250 gallon fuel oil barrels from inside homes? I have access to one and I've seen a couple on the pages. I would love to pick the brain of a few who have built one to figure out what works and doesn't work.

[C.Wilcox]

tpatch,

I have a homemade fuel oil drum evaporator that my dad and I put together this past year. I have a few photos and links to similar projects in this thread http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=6923&highlight=fuel+oil+drum. I'm in southeast WI so I'm a bit of a hike from you, but I do have a few suggestions if you go to build one.

-Angle the back wall of your firebox toward the stack. If you make the back wall straight you may have a hard time getting enough draft without a fan forcing air under the grates. I think having the top of the ramp at about 2/3 of the total length of then pan would be good. More bottom surface of the pan will be exposed to the flames.
-Leave lots of air space in your grates if you go with homemade metal versions. Mine are too restrictive (1/8" gaps) and I have a hard time getting enough air in under them even with a forced draft.
-Make your firebox plenty long enough. 18" is a minimum and I'd go over 24" if I did it again.
-Don't fit your firebrick too tight. I measured all of mine and mortarted them in tight. Many of them split when the firebox got hot because I didn't leave any room for expansion.
-If you want to keep the outside of the firebox below skin scorching temps you'll need way more than 1" of fireproof insulation behind your bricks. 2" of insulation might be enough to do the job, but I haven't tested it.
-Consider cutting the top of your drum off so that you have a 2 level set up. It would consist of a main pan approx. 4 feet long and a second 12" pan slightly elevated above it at the back of the drum that you can use as a preheater. Heat from the fire would have to hit the bottom of the preheater pan before passing out the chimney and the preheated sap would drip out of a spigot in that pan into the main pan below. I believe some of the guys here have that kind of a setup and maybe they can say how well it works for them.

I don't know how helpful they are, but those are just a few of my thoughts after my trial run this season.

[tpatch361]

C.Wilcox, thanks a bunch. I am going to being finishing up now that todays temp is over 70. I will be building the new arch soon. I will keep you posted.

[Riley/MN]

Soon as I get off work I need to get hometo finish up boiling. I will be doing so in a 4' x 8' steel pan.

[Ausable]

Thanks for the info. I used the steel pan and it worked great. I left the niter in it until next year. Next year I am installing a draw off and and a preheater pan. Anybody have the locations of others who have built the arch from 250 gallon fuel oil barrels from inside homes? I have access to one and I've seen a couple on the pages. I would love to pick the brain of a few who have built one to figure out what works and doesn't work.

Hi again - My Son and Grandson designed and built an arch from a 250 gal Fuel Oil Tank for me to use this year. We all had a lot of input into the design including a couple of guys who built several of different sizes.
I really like mine and am still learning the difference between this and a simple open pan evaporator. Biggest problem was - I just didn't have enough sap at any one time to do it right. Once I get it cranked up It keeps me busy compared to what I was use to. Most sap I had at any one time was 100 gallons and I can see now that to do the boil I would like to do - would take at least 200 gallons - so I wouldn't have to chase with water till the final boil of the season.
One of the things I like so far on this rig - is that on the inside walls are welded standoffs with a heavy steel mesh screen welded to that and the fire brick we fitted in between the mesh and the outer wall with no motar and we used sand on the bottom of the fire box. So far that is working out. Hope the mesh holds up. With a forced air system the mesh would probably break down quickly due to the higher temps. ..... Mike