The Evaporator Should be Inexpensive

• Naturally, if you have never purchased an evaporator before or operated one, you don't want to spend close to $1,000 in getting one. An inexpensive evaporator can be built using less than fifty concrete blocks and less than 150 fire bricks. Add a sheet of 1/4-inch steel for a door, some steam table pans and a chimney flue pipe and you will have an evaporator for under $200.
  
  

The Evaporator Should Be Simple to Build

• Building the evaporator involves laying out a course of four concrete blocks on the left and right sides. The left and right walls should be no higher than four concrete blocks high. The back wall should be three blocks wide and four blocks high. Use the steam table pans to measure the right distance between the left and right walls. The lip of the pans should rest on the edge of the firebricks that line the inside of the structure. If you are using standard-size fire bricks and concrete blocks there will be a course of eight fire bricks wide and eight firebricks long on the left and right walls. The remaining fire bricks will line the back wall. The front area is kept open to access the fire.
  
  

The Evaporator Should Have Simple Modifications

• While this simple design will be fully operational as an evaporator, two modifications can be made to speed up the process and ensure a clean batch of syrup. Adding a 1/4-inch sheet of galvanized steel as a door will keep the heat in for a faster boil on the syrup. Insert a chimney flue into the back wall where you have cut a hole or left a brick out of place. The flue will give the fire inside an escape for better oxygen exchange and will keep ash particles from flying up and into the syrup.
  
  

The Evaporator Should be Easy to Operate

• Operating this evaporator is as simple as building a fire in the area surrounded by bricks, propping the steel door against the open end and adding the pans over the top to begin boiling. With this design, the beginner can even convert the heat source from wood or coal to propane with the addition of a few dollar's worth of burners. The fire brick will keep the heat in for quite some time regardless of which heating source is used. Add syrup to the pans and watch as it boils. As it becomes thicker, add more syrup that you collected from the trees and stir.