We go through a quick build process of converting an old 275-gallon home heating oil tank into an evaporator for cooking down maple sap into syrup. We also cover a little bit of collecting sap and cooking it down. It is mapleing season. We just finished our second cook a couple of days ago.
There are places to buy the stainless pans online, but we got ours from a local Amish making. All in we probable have about $800 in the pan, steel, door kit, brick and chimney. Not a cheap endeavor but my son wanted to build a good setup to last us into the future. Unless you are willing to work really cheap this is not productive enough for commercial use. Still it is much better than I have played with in the past.
The weather this year has been weird we had a couple of feet of snow and -5 degree temps around Christmas and 50 degrees in February. But there has been enough cold to get the sap flowing. With about 25 taps we have been getting about 60 gallons a week.