new barrel evaporator

[michael marrs]

I picked up a barrel, because I want to get away from my block arch . I have some design questions, I will use 2 rest. pans.
1), is it helpful to put a sheet of steel about halfway back, inside, angling up towards chimney? I was thinking of lining with sand /brick and putting ( maybe) a pipe w/ holes drilled through the bung for a fan. Now the question about brick. I have access to about 5,000 bricks. Why firebrick? I just read occasionally firebrick needs replaced, I can replace the regular brick, annually until about forever. From what I have heard , many guys with this set up regret not putting the pans as far back as they can. I am not cutting my barrel up yet , my block arch is still in use, and I have plenty of time , and only want to do it once, thanks

[mspina14]

My first evaporator was a barrel stove. I rigged up a blower through the bung hole with some pipe and dryer duct:

stove 4.jpg pan 1.jpg

The blower really helped increase the boil rate. I had it plugged into a rheostat and could control the draft with it some.

After using two steam pans for a while, I had a single flat pan made. I think I got about a 4-5 gallons/hour boil rate.

I lined the inside with firebrick. I'm sure regular brick would work fine. They'll crack from the heat after a season or so. But if you have an unlimited supply, it's a good option.

I built a little wall with firebrick about 2/3 way toward the back to try and push the flames up to the bottom of the pan. The back of the pan boiled well, the front of the pan just simmered.

Because of the shape of a barrel, the flames and heat really get sucked to the back by the draft of the stove pipe chimney.

I did enjoy boiling on it and it made very good syrup.

Good luck!

Mark

[michael marrs]

thank you Mark Just the info I needed. I am cooking with a makeshift block arch,( that has worked fine), but I am tired of fooling with the weight of blocks. So, first, this barrel,next summer a shack build is in the plans. I am going to start with a hand held hair dryer, into a pipe through bunghole, I can get them at thrift stores for about $3, then maybe later, a real fan, and rheastat

[mspina14]

Michael:

That's just about the same way I started.

One thing I did find, is that cutting the metal barrel with a reciprocating saw can be difficult. The curved surfaces of the barrel make it a little tough to cut a straight line.

I changed over to a hand held grinder with a cutting wheel and it worked much better. Make sure you wear eye protection if you use a cutting wheel though. It makes a lot of sparks.

Mark

[wobbletop]

The hair dryers are loud: annoyingly so. I switched to a bathroom vent fan.

[michael marrs]

good info from all. I do intend to use an angle grinder. I thought for a while about a jig saw with a metal blade . but I think I will just stay with the AG

[Fireguy124]

good info from all. I do intend to use an angle grinder. I thought for a while about a jig saw with a metal blade . but I think I will just stay with the AG

Here is the one I've been using this year. Lined with fire brick and hair dryer through a steel pipe into the bung hole. I also made a grate so the bottom of the Fire is above the bung hole. Both pans boil hard. On a calm day I can get slightly over 5g/hr.



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[michael marrs]

fireguy, nice job, do you have an extension on the back of it?

[Islander]

I really like the preheater on fireguy's barrel, get one of those brew pots with a valve and it would be sweet .

However, I boil on 2 barrel rigs myself. One barrel has the flue coming straight out the top like mspina's and one has the flue coming out the back like fireguy's (i was trying and get more surface area). I can tell you the barrel with the flue coming straight out the top burns significantly better, with less wood than does the one with the flue out the back. Although I can't tell you the gph difference between the 2 because at the end of the day i condense all pans to one, the barrel with the flue out the top looks much more like syrup before the condensing starts than the pans on the other barrel so i suspect i am getting much more gph boil rates with top mounted flue.

[Fireguy124]

fireguy, nice job, do you have an extension on the back of it?

I took the off cuts of steel where the pans are and welded them on the back of the barrel just to help direct some of the extra heat from the barrel up to my preheater pot. Not sure they do a whole lot. I also welded some small curved steel in beside the sides of the pans to try and stop some of the sap from burning on the side of the pans. It made a difference


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