Maple Syrup Season

[landtracdeerhunter]

How's the season going so far? This last week has been one of the best flows in years for me. Been boiling into the late night just to keep ahead. I will have to look into building a small scale Reverse Osmosis unit for next year or enlarge my evaporator again. Not sure at this point, what would be better. 

[turkeyfeathers]

As of last week my friend has boiled 250 gallons of sap I believe. I had a small piece of some maple sugar candy , so good. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

46 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

How's the season going so far? This last week has been one of the best flows in years for me. Been boiling into the late night just to keep ahead. I will have to look into building a small scale Reverse Osmosis unit for next year or enlarge my evaporator again. Not sure at this point, what would be better. 

I've been looking into this for a while. This seems like a pretty good set up for a small operation. I've been pricing out his set up and I think his pricing is about right. 

https://sites.google.com/site/mattatuckmadnessmaplesyrup/home/homemade-reverse-osmosis-system

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

18 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

I've been looking into this for a while. This seems like a pretty good set up for a small operation. I've been pricing out his set up and I think his pricing is about right. 

https://sites.google.com/site/mattatuckmadnessmaplesyrup/home/homemade-reverse-osmosis-system

 

Thats pretty slick

[Culvercreek hunt club]

1 minute ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Thats pretty slick

yeah, gotta pipe it opposite than you would if you were using it to filter water. In this case the "filtered waste" is the product you want to keep...lol. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Just now, Culvercreek hunt club said:

yeah, gotta pipe it opposite than you would if you were using it to filter water. In this case the "filtered waste" is the product you want to keep...lol. 

Would certainly cut boil time down by quite a bit

[Culvercreek hunt club]

2 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Would certainly cut boil time down by quite a bit

in a 24 hour period he took 140 gallons of sap down to 30 gallons of concentrate.  And honestly, collect the water and use it. Has to be as good or better than bottled water. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Culvercreek hunt club

[WNYBuckHunter]

1 minute ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

in a 24 hour period he took 140 gallons of sap down to 30 gallons of concentrate.  And honestly, collect the water and use it. Has to be as good or better than bottled water. 

I could just dump it into my water system tank

[Culvercreek hunt club]

In the top menu he gives parts lists and links. Not sure if they all work or not 

[landtracdeerhunter]

That is the exact unit I was looking into. I always handle sap as you would milk with the temperature below 37 degree F. This week, sap been running way below that.   At that temp. this unit has a 2 gal/ hour flow rate which is way to slow for what I need.  I was always under the impression sap never should go to 40 degree F as they state with highest  flow rate of 4 to 6 gal/hr...

Edited March 8, 2018 by landtracdeerhunter

[Culvercreek hunt club]

8 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

  I was always under the impression sap never should go to 40 degree F as they state with highest  flow rate of 4 to 6 gal/hr...

why would that be? Bacteria?

[landtracdeerhunter]

Yes. It also can affect the flavor of the syrup.  

[Dinsdale]

54 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

Yes. It also can affect the flavor of the syrup.  

The two posts by Dr Tim Perkins touch a bit on this thread; maybe worth a look. 

(Dr Tim is THE dude in University of Vermont for science based syrup work)

 

http://mapletrader.com/community/archive/index.php/t-20420.html

 

[Doewhacker]

1 hour ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

I've been looking into this for a while. This seems like a pretty good set up for a small operation. I've been pricing out his set up and I think his pricing is about right. 

https://sites.google.com/site/mattatuckmadnessmaplesyrup/home/homemade-reverse-osmosis-system

 

Nerds ruin everything, not at all worth it unless you plan on producing a lot and selling it. 

The fun of it for me is collecting and cooking outside, keep it simple. 

[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

How's the season going so far? This last week has been one of the best flows in years for me. Been boiling into the late night just to keep ahead. I will have to look into building a small scale Reverse Osmosis unit for next year or enlarge my evaporator again. Not sure at this point, what would be better. 

Having a good year here too though I actually scaled back, cooked down at 30-1 Tuesday and have more to cook tomorrow. My first run was the usual poor ratio, 68-1 and darker. The second was perfectly colored and higher sugar content, boy did it run last week.  

[Dinsdale]

50 minutes ago, Doewhacker said:

 

........My first run was the usual poor ratio, 68-1 and darker. The second was perfectly colored and higher sugar content..... 

If you put that through a RO, you'd boil less and you'd get better color.

[Doewhacker]

1 minute ago, Dinsdale said:

If you put that through a RO, you'd boil less and you'd get better color.

But then I would have to spend money and that ain’t happening, it’s not a gun that I “need”. Hahahaha

[landtracdeerhunter]

13 hours ago, Dinsdale said:

If you put that through a RO, you'd boil less and you'd get better color.

  So, R.O. does lighten the color of the syrup?  Culvercreek posted that link above that looks good, but the guy is running sap through at 40 degrees F. for 4 -6 g/h flow rate. That temp worries me, as I always like to keep it below 36F.  I could go with larger surface area with the membrane. I don't know if I would have to run a larger pump.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Arcade Hunter]

You will most likely need to upgrade the pump... I  upgraded a system last year by adding a second membrane (30"x3") and had to upgrade.  The new pump head was only 160 bucks but I went from 5GPM to 12GPM... 

I have a contact for RO supply, parts etc... if anyone is interested, PM me.  These systems are pharma grade but this company sells used items and can source just about anything for the best price...

Had to sell my property or I would be making syrup too... it was work, but well worth it.  I'll be buying syrup this year

[Dinsdale]

1 hour ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

  So, R.O. does lighten the color of the syrup?  Culvercreek posted that link above that looks good, but the guy is running sap through at 40 degrees F. for 4 -6 g/h flow rate. That temp worries me, as I always like to keep it below 36F.  I could go with larger surface area with the membrane. I don't know if I would have to run a larger pump.

Shortening boiling time is one factor that keeps syrup lighter. So if you increase concentration of sap, you by default reduce boiling time, and get lightest color for that run.

Yes, you'd need a bigger pump increasing membrane size. Did you read Dr Tim's second post in that link? Covers exactly what you are asking about temp increase and prompt processing to avoid issues with color/flavor.

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by Dinsdale

[Culvercreek hunt club]

15 hours ago, Doewhacker said:

But then I would have to spend money and that ain’t happening, it’s not a gun that I “need”. Hahahaha

Well if you produced more for the same given time expended you could sell a bit and pay for the RO and get that gun...lol

[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Well if you produced more for the same given time expended you could sell a bit and pay for the RO and get that gun...lol

Ain’t happening. The trees will only produce so much, syrup is not a profitable business for the most part. I read recently that a guy ran 300 taps and produced about 100 gallons of syrup and made about $4000. He then put most of that back into equipment ect and that “profit” didn’t include his time spent throughout the year working on the equipment, trees and selling product. So for that reason I’ll stick to letting sap freeze and taking the ice out of the bucket before cooking as I hear the ice has little sugar in it. Free RO system if it’s true. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

Their is a lower concentration of sugar in ice. If it gets cold enough, 5 gallon pails of sap freeze solid. Sugar is sugar to me and I boil all of it. I freeze backup reserves of sap solid, which I throw in my tank, during mild weather periods.

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by landtracdeerhunter

[landtracdeerhunter]

3 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Well if you produced more for the same given time expended you could sell a bit and pay for the RO and get that gun...lol

Sounds good in theory, LOL.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Sounds good in theory, LOL.

They always do lol