Home made Maple Sap Syrup Boiler / Evaporator

Early spring in Southern Maine, Here's our Home made Maple Sap Syrup Boiler / Evaporator... wood fired , 55 gallon drum w/ SST steel pan . Shown here boiling 2 weeks worth of sap collected from our few maple trees . Only 11 taps this year.. If I had more time, I would certainly collect more sap as I've done in the past. The most we've made is 3 gallons in one season... though typically 3-5 quarts produced.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• 55
• gallon
• drum
• Maple
• Sap
• Syrup
• Evaporator
• Boiler
• home
• made

[gordangnome]

does the flame hit the pan directly?

[rickartj]

@gordangnome Yes.. That's a must

[voidenter]

i guess i was hoping for a "how to" video its cool lookin and all but it you should have said how you made it real quick with a small outline. :/

[rickartj]

@voidenter I wish I had captured the build process, but this was all "after the fact

The barrel is standard, I made the base out of old bed frame rails A sawzall / die grinder and a welder are required.

The Door was made out of the barrel end itself. Make the first edge cut of the door without cutting all the other sides out. Then weld your hinges on. Then finish cutting out the door. the stove pipe is fitted and welded to the opposit end. It's sort of plugged in.

[SuperSemiller]

how did connect the stovepipe on the back of the barrel for the smoke?

[rickartj]

@SuperSemiller it'plugged in to a hole I cut with the inner most portion bent back on its self. I also tack welded arounf the joint. It's quite strong.

[gordangnome]

@rickartj looks fun, I gotta find plans, already got a drum and welder/cutter

[cbgreely]

GIDDYUP...BACKYARD SUGARIN!

My rig looks idenitcal to yours..no fire birck..completely inefficient that way. I made it out of an old oil tank found in the woods.

Don't let anybody tell you you can't make amazing syrup with the batch process. Every year my first run is Grade A fancy.

[dsxm69]

I am interested in building something like this - propane cost is killing me.

Do you have any detailed pictures of your construction that you could share? I am interested in the details of how you modified the barrel (doors, chimney and how the evaporator is mounted). I have the barrel and the skills, just not the experience in building a stove that works properly. Do you use firebrick or anything inside, or do anything to adjust the air supply?

Thanks, John

[rickartj]

@senfats The pan is approx 19 gallons. 21 x 21 x 10 if I recall , It worked out to 2 gallon per inch