55 gallon barrel build

[MDR Maple]

I posted the Newbie with sugaring bug post a month ago and thought I’d post my progress under a new subject line. Thanks to all who replied with their experiences. I started with a 55 gallon galvanized barrel that used to be used for syrup storage and a VT Sapling 20x30 two baffle flat SS pan. I hadn’t done much metal fabrication in the past but have done some home and furniture construction so working with metal was new to me. This is a no weld build since I don’t weld. I used a jigsaw with metal cutting blade to cut out the pan hole, door hole and stack hole. I used 3/4” angle iron as pan rails, fastened with SS self tappping #10 screws. I used the barrel stove kit for the door and legs and I built a simple black locust skid. I ordered 1x3 arch board and 8’x2’x1” arch insulation from Bascom. I used the archboard to “frame” the shelf and insulated the arch interior. I firebricked with split brick over the insulation. The 2” bung hole is on the bottom which will become the AUF inlet. I used an old gas grill grate to support the wood and distribute the AUF to the firebox. I still need to work out the AUF but I have an 80 CFM fart fan from HD. I’m off to CDL in St. Albans VT for 3/16” tubing supplies tomorrow. I need to run 1,600’ along 66’ of roadside drop to pick up 25 trees, 12” diameter average and about 30 taps. Ive got 4 55 gallon drums for storage. More later.

[Milton]

Looks good and fairly similar to mine. Can u remove grate to clean ash? I'm interested in how you set up your auf as I still have to do that to mine

[Milton]

Also do u have firebrick under grate??

[jrm]

Nice build! I'm intrigued with your angle iron and self-tapping screws. I'm not a welder either and when I cut my barrel, with a metal blade on a reciprocating saw (and not nearly and neat lines) I made two holes for the pans to drop into as I didn't want to get rid of all support and I don't weld. I ended up with a full steam pan and a half pan. Am I right you'll either be putting three steam pans on or are using a custom pan?

As an aside, a blunder I made, since I was a newbie and had never heard of AUF, was in cutting my door, my bung hole is at the top, so when I added AUF last season, I went through the barrel kit door vents.

My son is interested in doing a new barrel and maybe we'll go a similar route with the rails.

[barnbc76]

Is that 55 taps you have? You will have your hands full with that many for sure!

[jrm]

Me? No, I have 15 taps. Could add more, but practically, don't think I could manage it in my batch mode. I've also had low yields, I think my best tree last year was around 2.8%. I had a number st roughly 1.2%. Still fun, just a lot more time involved for less finished goodness.

[MDR Maple]

The grate can be removed. For AUF, I will come out of the 2" dia. bung with a 2" dia. nipple and threaded 90, steel. The outside diameter of the threaded 90 bend is pretty close to the inside diameter of a 3x4 reducer duct fitting that I got at HD. I will connect them with a steel band clamp and hope for the best. The fart fan has a 4" outlet to connect to the 4" reducer. I got a simple dimmer switch to control air flow. I do not have brick under the grate. I figure that with a near constant flow of cold air being blown in under the grates, the grates will be cooler than without AUF and should be fine (I hope).

I'll be using a 20"x30" two divider flat SS pan I picked up from VT Evaporator Co., makers of the Sapling barrel based evaporator. I wasn't originally planning on using the rails, but when I cut the pan hole, the cut line was pretty jagged, so I grabbed the barrel sides with channel lock pliers and bent them back and added the rails. This design change offered a bit more flexibility to control air leakage and set the rails where needed. The insulation runs up the barrel side walls right up to the rail bottoms.

I'll have about 30 taps on 25 trees. I'll also have the RO bucket, but that will not be here until March, so I may have a lot of boiling time on this thing before the bucket arrives and that should give me time to see how the evaporator works.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the insulation cut with scissors. It's fairly stoudt stuff, but it cut easily.

This is my first masonry experience in a while and although I followed the Heat Stop II recommended masonry mix proportions of water and mix, it seemed a bit dry. We'll see how that holds up (or not).

I watched a youtube video on cutting firebrick using the chisel method, but I broke 3 bricks that way. So, I picked up a diamond masonry blade for my 4 1/2" angler grinder and that sliced through the brick very well. I'm building this in my unheated garage, so after I finished firebricking, I put a worklight with an old 60 watt incandescant bulb, for heat, in the evaporator with a blanket over top of the evaporator, to keep it from freezing. It was about 20 degrees F outside but the evaporator interior stayed at about 55 degrees F.

[brass maple]

If you cut a 2 inch hole in the back of the barrel at the bottom and run a 2 inch metal pipe from the back to the front you can make auf. On the end of the pipe that goes to the front of the barrel make several short cuts on the end of the pipe and bend them over to plug the end of the pipe. Then on the top of the pipe drill 3/8 holes in three different lines down the length of the pipe only under where the fire will be. One line right down the top of the pipe one line at 11 oclock position and one line at the 1 o'clock position. On the other end of the pipe hook up the blower. It works well. Done this way you don't get a lot of ash blowing out of door when opened and you have the air aimed right where you want it. My blower is a leaf blower and it doesn't blow any thing out door with that much power

[Mrk59rsk]

Nice design! I'm new to the forum, live in the Western New York area. Could you explain how you secured the insulation to the barrel walls? Thanks!

[Milton]

For securing insulation just press fit it towards bottom. For up higher on the sides I used 2 bolts on each side and ran a piece of metal strapping (used to hold up plumbing pipes) between the bolts. Worked well for me.