Homemade evaporator

[andrew martin]

I love sugaring, makes the engineer in me come out. We rent our current apartment, so we cannot build a sugar shack, but our neighbors love the big backyard fires during syrup season. We are going to have a fabricator build for us a new 36" x 36" x 11" high syrup pan with cover and stack out of 304 SS. Knowing that this pan will sit directly over the hot coals and its size, what gauge 304 SS should we use? I was thinking heavier for the bottom, like 12/14 ga and lighter for the sides, such as 16 ga. Do I need to double clad the bottom so it will not buckle at high temperatures? Just trying to get by inexpensively until we have our own place in Western Pennsylvania in three years.
Thanks.

AKM

[Johnny Cuervo]

I would make it as thin as possible my first home made pan 22"x26" was 11 Ga. and had poor heat transfer. Stainless is a good insulator. My new pan 22'x44"is 24 Ga. works much better. As long as there is fluid in it, it won't burn. One Boy Scout told me that he boiled water in a paper cup.

John

[andrew martin]

John,

Thanks for the info. Is your pan welded or soldered? How many gallons do you boil off an hour?
We burned apple wood inadvertently this year and found the sour taste of this wood ended up in the syrup and we had to pitch 1.5 gallons of syrup. Have you ever had a similar problem? What species of wood works best for you? Do you have a cover or hood for your homemade pan? I have thought about making one to keep the smoke from mixing with the vapor coming off in order to maintain the flavor of the syrup.
OK, one more question. Have you put channels in your evaporator to direct the sap down the line?

[Johnny Cuervo]

My pan is welded. About 12 Gal/hour. I have been using elm, or what ever is available. The pan should be open to maximize evaporation. I have had off flavor at times but not sure what caused it. No dividers just flat, I make 1-3 Gal per batch. Before I built my arch I used two rows of cinder blocks with the pan resting on both sides, fed wood in the front -let smoke out the back. Take a look at my pictures-click on website below.

John

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You might want to build a small arch out of cinderblocks with a 6" stack coming out of the back and just a piece of plate steel will work for a door on the front and you can lean a cinderblock or two against it to adjust the height of it for draft.

Also, it will work better if you can develop a grate system, but will work fine without it also. I made many, many gallons of syrup for many years and got a very good boil rate with just laying the wood on the ground. You get a big pile of hot coals pretty fast and they put off a ton of heat.

This is something simple you can make and won't take much time, cost very much and can easily be put up and taken down at the end of the season and is much safer than an open fire! :D

[brookledge]

If you want to add strength to your 36"X36" pan add a divider (rib) in the middle of the panin the inside. Cut some holes in it to allow sap to transfer side to side. This will allow you to stiffen up the pan and keep the gauge to a minimum. Most pans are around 20 ga. As said previously stainless does not transfer heat good. If you use 12 or 14ga. you will not be able to boil as fast as if you had thinner stainless.
Keith

[brookledge]

Also you could put in two dividers one every 12" they don't have to be as high as the outside and that will definately strengthen your pan
Keith

[sweetwoodmaple]

Check out my web site for the 2000 season. I used two 34" square pans that I got as surplus from work. They were 16 ga, which held up without ribs or dividers for strength, yet transfered heat ok.

Got 8 gph or so using an earth arch and 11 ga stack adapter to 8" pipe. It really helped having the blocks down 12" below the ground to help with frost (kept the pans fairly level).

I also had a batch system of sorts cause I could open a valve from the top pan and drain to the bottom pan.

As described previously, I had a steel front and a make shift door that i used to control draft and opened for putting in wood.

I can sketch up what I did if you are interested.

Take Care - Brian

[Maple Flats]

Before you build (I'm not against building, just like to get the most for my money) you should check www.bascommaple.com and look to see what pans they have in used equipment. Last year I picked up some good buys from them. They also have a couple of new units in the used listing, probably ones they took in trade or on deals but they don't carry that brand or something. If you find a syrup pan in the size you want or maybe even a little bigger sometimes it could be a real deal. They ship to you charging exact cost if I remember. If that does not pan out (no pun intended), you can still get one made, but unless you have a sourse for the ss at a steal it might cost you more than used. Good luck. The others are right, make an arch even if it is concrete blocks and even insulate the interior if you can swing it with fire brick and put up a stack (suggest 2 times pan length) and a front with some means of controlling draft, every thing here will help and give you a better burn in the end When you are done set the pan on with a ceramic gasket to keep cool air from leaking in under the pan and you should be right in business If you go used try to stay away from tin because they most likely have high lead solder.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Great idea :idea: Maple Flats. I bought a 5x7 syrup pan from Bascoms years ago. I have dealt with them for years and they will honestly tell you the condition of the pan to the best of their knowledge before you buy it. The nice thing about a syrup pan is that they are made very strong and already normally have sections in them. The have some nice 5x2 cross flow pans that might work right.

You would be better off getting a 5x2 pan and turning it lengthwise. This will help you get a lot more heat from the wood. Your firebox would only be about 20" wide, but you would be heating a 5' long pan. I think they even have some that are 2' x 6' which would be even better! :D

[andrew martin]

Thanks for sharing that info, it is very helpful. Bascom's has a large variety of used pans in an array of sizes.
Happy sugaring to you all. It was 75 degrees today, I heard southern NY was hard hit with snow this past weekend.
AKM

[ontario guy]

to make a cheap arch, you can use an oil tank cut in two.. cut a door out the front and some angle to make a flat top surface and you have an arch for only few bucks.... I got my tank for free (it had a hole in it) $40 for the top and you have an arch.. you can fill the inside with firebrick if you like.

I got my pan made this year but if i had access to Bascoms it would have been cheaper to buy a used one.

Mark

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You can also buy a 55 gallon steel barrel and cut off enough of it for the pan to sit on and weld angle iron on the top and line with firebrick. :D