Homemade Evaporator

Make your own maple syrup with a homemade evaporator

If you live in the Northeast, especially Vermont and New York, you might be interested in taking up a regional hobby like making maple syrup. For this you can either purchase a ready-made evaporator or, more popularly, use a homemade evaporator.

Concrete Blocks

Although there are many different styles of homemade evaporators, a popular and relatively easy-to-build model uses concrete blocks. Inside the evaporator are places for steam-table trays that hold the syrup during the evaporation process. The height and width of the concrete box is dependent upon how much syrup you plan on evaporating at one time.

Fire Door and Draft Control

One of the most important parts of making maple syrup in a homemade evaporator is maintaining the internal heat. This can be done by building in a fire door and draft control into the main body of the evaporator. You can then adjust the internal heat as necessary to evaporate the sap.

Simple Evaporator

If you do not want to build an elaborate structure, you can rely on a simpler construction to reduce sap to maple syrup. For example, you can use a large metal pan, like a lasagna pan that restaurants use, for the evaporator. You will then place this on top of a fire source, such as a firebox with a stove pipe and fire it up.

References

• Foresty Alumni: Making Maple Syrup
• Mother Earth News: Do-It-Yourself Evaporator
• The Deliberate Agrarian: Backyard Sugaring