PineRidge
Super Member
McGyver would be proud of you. 
homemade maple sugar evaporator with pics
- Thread starter markct
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tnhomestead
Bronze Member
wonder if i have enough trees and big enough to make maple syrup -- and can u make it in tn?
OP
markct
Platinum Member
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- northfield connecticut
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- gradall g3r excavator, kawasaki mule 2500,ford 8000,and a 1936 caterpillar road grader
heres a few more pics of it now installed in my sugarshack i built for it, funny how these projects escalate! i will get some better pics of the shack in the daylight, it was nightime so the one pic is kinda dark. the shack is 7ft by 11ft inside.
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SPIKER
Elite Member
looks like a nice shack! I am thinking of moving my big pan down to the creek/woods but without a shack that means not being able to duck inside to warm up as it is now I HAUL the sap in 5 gal pails up to the house the large wood fired pan sets outside on a cement block burn pit, it is about 2.5 blocks high. (one solid 4" blocks on the very top with a few of the blocks turned so split wood can be slid into the fire under the pan through the block openings. this is also fire breathing room. I have also pulled 1~2 blocks from one side (upwind side) to load wood under it. I didn't notice the wood loading on you're propane tank ? is there a door to load wood into it??
anyhow looks like maybe I won't do too much syrup this year. only enough to keep ME in the sticky stuff
mark
anyhow looks like maybe I won't do too much syrup this year. only enough to keep ME in the sticky stuff
mark
greenthumb
Silver Member
Markct,
I am so sorry to hear about your "illness". We started about 8 years ago with wanting to make a "little bit of syrup" using an old flat pan we got from my wife's grandparents hobby at their cottage. So far I can't tell you what this illness has cost me and how it has grown. We started with about 15 taps went to about 40 the next year the same spring we had twins (not a good idea to mix new twins and maple sugering we did not do well that year. I think we pulled the taps in about may that year) We make anywhere form 12-20 gallons of syrup each year depending on how mother nature helps out last year was our worst year ever in Michigan.
So far our hobby has only cost us a new sugar shack, small evaporator which we have outgrown, 80 taps, storage tanks, sap buckets, bottles, not sleeping many nights. (remember it only takes around 40 gallons of boiled down sap to make 1 gallon of pure syrup). But man what a fun spring time hobby. We sell a little bit each year to friends and neighbors to get a little out of it but what a fun way to spend time with the kids as you can see the fun we have We have four daughters ages 9, 6,6, and 3 and I can't think of a better way to spend a day than outside in the spring collecting boiling and just doing something not many people have the patient痴 for anymore. Their is not a fast instant way when it comes to maple syrup. I have a lot of friends who ask if the syrup comes out of the tree and are shocked when I give them the syrup lesson. It is a great hobby and also another excuse to get on the tractor of course. We have a blast with it every year. You can see some our pics of our fun hobby.
I am so sorry to hear about your "illness". We started about 8 years ago with wanting to make a "little bit of syrup" using an old flat pan we got from my wife's grandparents hobby at their cottage. So far I can't tell you what this illness has cost me and how it has grown. We started with about 15 taps went to about 40 the next year the same spring we had twins (not a good idea to mix new twins and maple sugering we did not do well that year. I think we pulled the taps in about may that year) We make anywhere form 12-20 gallons of syrup each year depending on how mother nature helps out last year was our worst year ever in Michigan.
So far our hobby has only cost us a new sugar shack, small evaporator which we have outgrown, 80 taps, storage tanks, sap buckets, bottles, not sleeping many nights. (remember it only takes around 40 gallons of boiled down sap to make 1 gallon of pure syrup). But man what a fun spring time hobby. We sell a little bit each year to friends and neighbors to get a little out of it but what a fun way to spend time with the kids as you can see the fun we have We have four daughters ages 9, 6,6, and 3 and I can't think of a better way to spend a day than outside in the spring collecting boiling and just doing something not many people have the patient痴 for anymore. Their is not a fast instant way when it comes to maple syrup. I have a lot of friends who ask if the syrup comes out of the tree and are shocked when I give them the syrup lesson. It is a great hobby and also another excuse to get on the tractor of course. We have a blast with it every year. You can see some our pics of our fun hobby.
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OP
markct
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2002
- Messages
- 893
- Location
- northfield connecticut
- Tractor
- gradall g3r excavator, kawasaki mule 2500,ford 8000,and a 1936 caterpillar road grader
there is a door on the front like a woodstove that is for loading the fire, theres a air damper in the door and also a pipe with holes in it that runs about halfway back the firebox to feed air to the fire also, thats what the second small air damper is below the door
WayneB
Elite Member
Yep the price of syrup just went up!
Way back when we were making our own I figured we were staying under $100 a gallon, but would make it up in volume! Never made enough to get the price down and as luck would have it I was diagnosed with diabetes and we stopped making maple syrup. We never had amber syrup, but the dark stuff tasted good too.
Way back when we were making our own I figured we were staying under $100 a gallon, but would make it up in volume! Never made enough to get the price down and as luck would have it I was diagnosed with diabetes and we stopped making maple syrup. We never had amber syrup, but the dark stuff tasted good too.
SPIKER
Elite Member
greenthumb, those are some great posts I need an ATV with the tank on back as I've just been lugging 5 gallon buckets back from the woods it seems that when it is running the ground is so wet that I can't take the tractor back there without terrible rutting... Since I walk the farm all the time I want to keep that to a min. as it is I stumble enough
mark M
I need an ATV with the tank on back as I've just been lugging 5 gallon buckets back from the woods it seems that when it is running the ground is so wet that I can't take the tractor back there without terrible rutting... Since I walk the farm all the time I want to keep that to a min. as it is I stumble enough mark M
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markct
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2002
- Messages
- 893
- Location
- northfield connecticut
- Tractor
- gradall g3r excavator, kawasaki mule 2500,ford 8000,and a 1936 caterpillar road grader
well i did a few more little things to the evaporator like adding two baffles to the pan like the real evaporators have. i fired it up to try it for the first time yesterday, filled the pan with water and got a fire going, it worked pretty good but the one thing i noticed was the rear of the pan always had more boiling than the front, and the fire was mostly build at the front, it seemed better with the draft cut back but seemed that whatever i did the back would boil like crazy and the front just barely. any thoughts, i was thinking maybe its not as bad as i think since the back is where the fresh cold sap will be added so maybe that sorta counteracts this? or is there other tricks that i dont know?
greenthumb
Silver Member
MarkCt
My evaporator has fire brick across the back about 4-6 inches from the flu with about three inch clearance to the bottom of the pan. This seems to "slow the heat down" as it vents to the stack. Also if you can line the stove with fire brick that will hold the heat in a little more evenly thus you may see a little more even boil
My evaporator has fire brick across the back about 4-6 inches from the flu with about three inch clearance to the bottom of the pan. This seems to "slow the heat down" as it vents to the stack. Also if you can line the stove with fire brick that will hold the heat in a little more evenly thus you may see a little more even boil