Sunrise Maple Syrup Evaporators direct from the Amish Sunrise Metal Shop

Sunrise has developed into a full line supplier of high quality wood fired maple syrup evaporators and stainless maple syrup products.

In the Northern Indiana Amish country Sunrise Metal Shop a family operated Amish shop has been developing and manufacturing some of the best stainless steel maple syrup evaporators available.

Since 1972 when their first maple syrup evaporator was manufactured for the local maple syrup production, Sunrise has developed into a full line supplier of high quality wood fired maple syrup evaporators and stainless maple syrup products.

Many in the maple Syrup industry have seen or know of Sunrise evaporators, or actually own them, but because they are mainly marketed to other Amish communities, the general public has not had the Internet or commercial exposure of other manufacturers in the maple syrup industry.

The Sunrise Maple Syrup Evaporators are now available online at Cottage Craft Works .com

We visited one of the Sunrise demonstrations in February of 2012 as the Amish gathered into a barn bringing in their fresh maple sap for cooking down into the wonderful maple syrup.

From the road it looked like any other Amish gathering but as we entered we found a giant Sunrise cooker being stoked with firewood and manned by several Amish in an assembly line process.

What makes Sunrise evaporators so intriguing is they are all made in an Amish shop by skilled Amish workers. Just about everything made in the shop uses heaver gauge steel and stainless. Stainless Joints and seams are welded with a tig welder. Sunrise uses 20 ga Stainless while others use 22 ga.

These evaporators are being built with long life spans in mind, as the Amish build things that they will use hard and last for a very long time.

Fire boxes are larger and built using heaver grates and thicker sidewalls than other factory built units. Fire boxes also come lined with fire brick for a longer firebox life span.

We expected to find a dark shop, with antiquated equipment. To our surprise we found a modern factory with the most modern equipment that was built just in 2009.

While the evaporators featured on the Cottage Craft Works website are geared more to the hobby farm and small commercial producer, larger commercial sized evaporators like the one we saw in operation are also available.

Hobby sized evaporators range in size from a 2 X 3- 35 tap 10 Gallon per Hour model, to a 2 X 6- 250 tap 35 Gallons per hour. Prices range from $1495 to $3600. Fairly competitive to others on the market.

Probably the best buy for the large hobby/small commercial producer is the Sunrise 2 X 6 Spitfire model. It is designed to handle up to 250 taps. It’s a wood fired cooker with a 2 x 2 flat finishing pan and a 4 x 4 flue pan.

Overall cooking surface is 9088 sq inches. The 2 x 6 Spitfire will process approximately 35 gal of syrup per hour.

The flue pans built by Sunrise are also of exceptional quality. The 2 X 6 Spitfire flue pan is built with 8” deep flues. This provides additional cooking surface, which means the Sunrise Evaporators are very efficient. The 2 X 6 Spitfire has an overall cooking surface of 9088 sq inches.

Building this type of flue pan using heavy gauge Stainless Steel is probably one of the key attributes of the Sunrise Evaporators. It’s very expensive and labor intensive to build a flue pan this way, but again the Amish don’t build things to just sell they build things to use and last.

Gas fired hobby finishers are also available in both a two and three burner models. Sunrise also makes Stainless filtering tanks, finishing pans, scoops and skimmers.

Sunrise makes their own unique heavy stainless sap bag holder. They are easy to use and keeps the top closed for less rainwater and debris to enter during the sap collection process.

Working closely with the Amish cottage based industries, for the past 30 years Cottage Craft Works has developed an online general store filled with hard to find Amish products.

No Boil Maple Syrup Finishing Cooker

One of the most difficult processes in making quality maple syrup comes down to the finishing process. Maintaining maple syrup just below the boiling point throughout the finishing process is part skill and part the right equipment.

Maintaining even heat without hot spots in large cooking pans is the most difficult. Most cookers using single pans will concentrate the heat right over the top of the burners leaving a high potential for that area to succeed the boiling point while the rest of the batch doesn't.

Even the most experienced maple syrup processors fear the dreaded sugar sand. Sugar sand occurs when the maple syrup is allowed to boil during the finishing process. Sugar sand is like honey that has sat on the pantry shelf too long and turned to sugar.

The creative Amish at Sunrise has developed a no boil maple syrup finishing cooker in two models to fit on top of a two or three burner LP Gas stove.

The cooker uses a double wall water jacket stainless cooking pan that can be filled with water. Much like a double stove top boiler used to make candy or melt wax for canning the water may reach boiling the point but the contents inside will never boil.

These cookers can be used on a camp style LP gas cooker or Sunrise makes a complete portable stainless steel cooking stand that is easy to knock down and assemble.

These professional LP cookers can also be used for other outdoor cooking and the double wall pan can be used for other cooking applications.

These cookers will also process small batches of maple syrup for the small hobby and individual family. The process just takes longer than firing over a wood fired cooker and then using a finish cooker to finalize the process.

No boil finishing pans are also available through Cottage Craft Works .com

Cottage Craft works is a unique back to basics store featuring many Amish made products from across the many Amish communities. Many of these products are difficult to find.

Buggy Blanket | Carriage Blanket | Amish buggy blanket

Keep warm this winter with an authentic Amish buggy blanket from Cottage Craft Works

If you're going out in an open romantic buggy, sleigh ride or just to your favorite outdoor sporting event you need an authentic Amish Buggy Blanket to keep you warm and snug.

These blankets are perfect for RVs and campers, as well as all types of cold weather events. Keep one in the car in case you become stranded.

The Amish are well known for their horse and buggy transportation. Have you ever wonder how they can stand taking those long buggy trips to town on some of the coldest days and nights? The authentic Amish buggy blanket has a wind barrier built inside to help keep the cold wind chill out. The outer layers are soft plush fabric to maintain the body heat.

These plush blankets measure 58” X 78” and are available at Cottage Craft Works .COM. for $69.95. The buggy blanket ships directly from an Amish shop in Northern Indiana.

Cottage Craft Works at http://www.cottagecraftworks.com is a unique on line old time general store featuring all types of old time goodies from the past. Old fashioned products still American made with the pride and quality that built America are still available for our fast pace and crazy world we live in.

So take a step back in time and tour the many pages this nostalgic website offers. Not only can you order the buggy blanket you can even custom order your own full size buggy to go with it.

Water Hydrant Frost/Freeze Proof Stainless HD Faucet | Corrosion Resistant

Why go through another long cold winter dealing with a cantankerous hydrant when you are so dependent on getting out fresh outside running water?

If your farm, ranch or business depends on having plenty of outside running water when the temperature drops and stays below zero, you might want to take a look at this one of a kind outdoor Stainless Steel water hydrant, especially if you live close to salt water.

Made from Stainless Steel the top will not rust or corrode, inside push rod is made of Stainless and even the outside pipe can be upgraded from standard galvanized to stainless with a stainless foot valve.

Unlike the traditional frost proof hydrants sold in hardware and farm stores this outdoor hydrant has a unique rocker arm design. The handle is smooth operating, providing additional leverage to make it so much easier to use.

Even the lady ranchers, farm wives and small children will appreciate having no problems turning the water on and off when doing the outside winter chores.

The hydrant is also perfect to use in remote summer cottages and outdoor pavilions for when the season ends to quickly winterize the property.

An excellent hydrant for commercial, municipalities, camp grounds, service stations and etc. Also perfect for coastal areas near saltwater such, as beach cottages, parks, aquariums, fish and seafood processing plants, fishing piers, and fishing boats.

The bottom brass foot valve is equipped with 1” piped thread to provide excellent water pressure. The top unscrews allowing the rod and valve seat to be removed for repair.

USA Amish manufactured the 401 Freezless Hydrant was designed by a plumber and has been tested for years through the coldest Ohio winters on farms and dairy farms.

The 401 Freezless Hydrant is only available online at the sustainable living store,Cottage Craft Works .com

It is available in both 2’ and 3’ bury models. The 3’ bury ships UPS Dimensional Weight.

These water hydrants are about three times the cost of a regular frostproof hydrant, but considering the chances of failure when you need it the most or having to bust up a concrete slab and dig out the cheaper one, the extra investment is well worth saving the expense and headaches down the road.

Cottage Craft Works overs a full range of sustainable self-sufficient back-to-basics products for the farm, home and ranch.

Making Empanadas | Hand Crank Restaurant Commercial Grade Empanada Maker

This heavy commercial grade empanada and pie maker is priced within reach for the family who enjoys making these wonderful empanada meat pies.

Similar hand crank pie machines of this quality are priced over $2000. It’s called The Little Pie Maker and it’s priced under $600.

It’s made commercial grade using heavy cast metals with polished aluminum pie dies. What’s rather unique about this machine is that it was actually developed and is manufactured in the Amish self sufficient communities.

The Amish just build things to last a lifetime and on into the next generations.

While the Amish do enjoy foods from many different cultures the pie maker was actually made to make fried fruit pies for large Amish events.

It's also makes perfect empanadas; it will, cut, and seal just about any other pocket dough like empanadas. The Pie Maker works just as well on calzones, and other similar pie pockets.

The ideal thickness of the dough should be rolled to right a 1/8” thick. The ideal size of the dough is a 6” round to make a perfect 3” x 5” pie.

The Pie Maker will crank out up to 200 empanadas per hour. For a restaurant or commercial kitchen this pie maker will be better enhanced with a commercial dough or pasta roller to keep up the pace in a busy restaurant kitchen cranking empanadas.

For a family, The Little Pie Maker makes a good reason to pull together an extended family to make a large batch of pies for each family to take home and restock the freezer.

Empanadas are a stuffed pastry that is believed to have originated in Spain. They are a main menu item in Latin and South American companies extending into other countries with different variations of the meats, cheeses, vegetables, and fruits used to stuff the dough pocket.

From a culture that thrives on seafood to cultures using meats and cheeses the name empanadas is used in many different languages and menus.

There is even a possibility that the empanada also influenced the development of other meat filled pies such as the calzone or the Cornish pasties. Because of the same shape of the dough pocket The Little Pie Maker will also make these as well.

Whether you use The Little Pie Maker to make empanadas, calzones, pasties, or fruit pies this little machine can crank out a perfect sealed pie pocket ready for the oven or deep fryer.

The Little Pie Maker is only available online at Cottage Craft Works .com

http://www.cottagecraftworks.com/pie-maker-fruit-dough-pie-crust-turnover-machine

Click Here to See the Video 

Cottage Craft Works is a unique back-to-basics general store featuring all kinds of old time products that are still being made and used in the Amish communities. 

Sustainable Living | Self Reliant | Self-Sufficient | Products for the homesteader

Some of the best made products for sustainable self reliant and self sufficient living are still being made in the USA cottage based Amish shops and factories.

These are the old fashioned vintage products that most of American used before electricity was made widely available. The Amish still living off grid have continued to make and use these products to live a sustainable lifestyle.

This cottage industry is made up of home based crafts people and artisans who still work in small work shops or other parts of their homes. Many trades and crafts have been handed down from many generations. These are the back bone of the American dream, making a quality hand made items and selling them from these home based shops. These talented people are hard to find many are in small towns or live deep in the back roads. 

Not to be confused with someone working out of a garage at home, the Amish cottage based industries feature large well equipped workshops and factories that are ran by off grid power sources.  They just so happen to be located close to their homes and families because the Amish still travel using horse and buggy or by bicycle.

The Amish have a long standing respected reputation for making high quality products that are still made to last as they were in the early 1900s.

Amish communities survive mostly on the cottage based industry concept. www.cottagecraftworks.com is a site dedicated to the cottage based industry featuring these hard to find sustainable living products for others seeking to return and live a more simply life without dependency on the grid power.

You will find everything for the kitchen, home, garden, and ranch all gathered for you in one place at Cottage Craft Works.

Cottage Craft Works also has a large selection of hunting gear, hunting calls and replacement gun stocks for the older model rifles and shotguns.