Best Membranes?

[Mark]

What are the best membranes and why?

[mountainvan]

I have the dow filmtec on my ro. they are rated for 125gal/hr each= 250/hr. It really does 300 +/ hr I have a 550 gal tank to the ro, it's empty in about an hour and a half. can easily concentrate to 10% in one pass, I stay at about 8%. I've never used any other so I do'nt know if they're better.

[maplwrks]

I've got Mark1 membranes and I love them!! They exceed the 600gph that they are rated for. This is what Lappierre is putting in all the new machines they make. NF70 and NF270 are also good quality membranes.

[sapman]

Mike,

Have you done any boiling yet on your 4800 taps? Just wondering how long it takes with the RO and such a small evaporator? I have a 2.5X8 with Steamaway, and can't imagine handling that many taps, even with an RO! It's amazing what you can do with those machines, but I suppose you could still get way behind on a good run.

Thanks,
Tim

[maplwrks]

Tim,
With 2 membranes on my RO, I can process 850 gph to 12%. I recirculate my sap for a short time to get the concentrate up to 18% if I can wait that long! For most guys on this forum, this is foreign ground, but boiling high concentrate is easier. There is almost a continuous draw, the sap keeps moving and there is no panic! I have friend that concentrates to 24%, he makes about 100 gph of syrup an hour!! He runs 2 RO's w/6 membranes, and his wife does ALL the boiling!! If you are ever in the need of a roadtrip, I'm only 40 mins. north of Whitehall.
Getting back to your ?, the sap is just starting to run here, We're looking for all hell to break loose this weekend. Also remember that Steamaways increase your efficiency 75%, RO's increase it 400+%. I am looking forward to being swamped with sap!!!!!!!

[sapman]

Mike,

This is awesome stuff! I'd love to come see you in action, but I'll be pretty busy the same time as you, I expect. Someday, I'd like to take a season off, and go visiting allot.

Do you think concentrating to such a high percentage affects flavor at all? I've heard that mentioned before, but wouldn't know first hand. So what is your hourly oil consumption, and syrup production/hour? Do you know what you average out at oil:syrup ratio? I burn 6 gph oil, and use about 2.5 gal. oil/1 gal. syrup.

I'm expecting things to get very interesting here this weekend, also. I got most all tapped yesterday and today, and have many taps running quite well. Should've tapped a little sooner, I guess. Problem here is they're calling for hig-50's for 3 or 4 days, without any freezing.

Thanks,
Tim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just curious but why is it that if sap goes above 8%, it tastes flat. I don't know much about RO's but was told by a respected member on here that is why Leader and some of the other companies doesn't build an RO that goes past 8% but syrup needs to be cooked that long for proper taste. Lapierre doesn't give a darn about anything as they are a Canadian company and only interested in making syrup asap. They sell the altered syrup down here in Sams from Canada for less than $ 17 1/2 gallon that the USDA won't do anything about. You couldn't pay me enough to eat mass produced Canadian syrup and please don't anyone from Canada take any offense at this as I don't mean it bad towards anyone and I am referring more to the big shots and the federation. The federation can do whatever it wants and seemingly get away with it.

[maplwrks]

Leader does not build RO's. They are built by Airablo in Canada. They don't have the technology to build an RO as good as Lapierre or CDL. Lets also remember that Leader has no research and development program, it relies on good sugarmakers to bring them ideas such as Glen Goodrich's STEAMAWAY! I'd also be p---ed off if Canadian syrup was being dumped on my local market. This is something that your state assoc. should be addressing with the USDA. Everything maple sold in the state of Vermont must have a state of origin on it and "Vermont" cannot be on the label anywhere if it is not produced in the state.

Tim,
I can make 15-18 gallons of syrup an hour on 3.5 gallons of fuel!! I don't believe it affects the flavor at all. I tend to gain a full grade on color and flavor by concentrating this high.

[Russell Lampron]

Brandon I don't know what it is that you don't like about the Lapierre company. Is it that they are competing against your beloved Leader company? When ever I have compared price and quality on maple equipment I have found better equipment at lower prices from Leaders competition. My Lapierre RO machine was $2,600 less than a comparable Airablo machine with a 10% discount. My Algier evaporator with welded pans was $500 cheaper than a Grimm or Leader evaporator with soldered pans.

As far as an RO machine affecting the taste of the syrup I made the best tasting syrup that I ever had last year as confirmed by my customers. I only concentrate my sap to 8% so you might be on to something there. The local Sam's club sells quarts of non NH maple syrup for $7.82. I don't have any problems selling my NH maple syrup for $12 a quart.

Russ

[mountainvan]

I'm going to weigh in here on running sap through again or parralell membranes. according to a friend of mine bascoms concentrates to 20%, told him it did affect the flavor, but did'nt care. lew staats used to call it techno-syrup and said he could tell the difference. Me, not sure. I have some syrup I bought form bascoms that I'll be canning today, ran out of dark, it tastes good, but I it's blended. Never had syrup made from 20% concentrate, at least that I know of. My customers thought my syrup was great last year, so up to 8% does'nt seem to affect the flavor. If your customers like the syrup, great.

[lew]

I have had many old timers claim that RO syrup tastes flat or funny. But if you give these same people a blind taste test of syrup made by different methods, they can't tell. As a matter of fact, I had one old curmudgeon claim that the sample I gave him was from an RO, and tasted horrible because it lacked flavor and was flat. Well low and behold it was made on a woodfired evaporator by a producer he (the old curmudgeon) claimed made the best syrup in the world. We all make excellent quality syrup, it's just that some stands out a little better than some. We all know when we get into a superb quality of syrup. It's just what the trees and weather give us.(providing we handle it in a timely matter)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have nothing against Lapierre or any other company for that matter and didn't mean it that way nor do I think Leader is any better than any other company. I was simply making a point that Lapierre would do whatever to make $$$ with no regards to the taste or quality of the syrup. I have a 320 gallon head tank that I bought 3 years ago made by Lapierre and I love it. I don't think there is any way for 20% sap to taste as good as sap concentrated to 8 to possibly 10 percent. I am not an expert and know very little, but why don't some of these manufactures just make a 67% membrane and sell clear maple syrup. At the rate some of these people are going it will be that soon. :roll: :roll: :roll:

[sapman]

Anybody know how long membranes last when concentrating to such high percentages, e.g. 14,18,20%? I've heard this shortens the life of them.

[Sugarmaker]

Tim,
Careful jumping in here: Lots of guns drawn, I'm ducked down behind the computer right now! :lol: :lol: :lol:

We still do it the old fashion hard way one stick at a time with 2% sap. Our customers just love it!
We cant get bigger and that suits us just fine. We may in fact dial back a little over the next few years and try to get to more sugar houses during the season.
Chris

[saphead]

Any one out there having problems w/NF270 passing sugar? Put in one NF70 (8") @ the beginning of the season but the NF270 wouldn't fit the antique Springtech we use where I work.Adapter kit finally showed up from Filmtec and it wouldn't fit,bummer,called Leader.The first thing they said is "don't put it in!", lots of problems with sugar passage,they recomended a ___ 440,don't recall the letters in the prefix. Fortunately only had one big run this very short season,ran on 1 membrane.

[maplwrks]

The NF270 membranes are known to pass sugar. They are a high flow membrane that Lapierre put in their machines 1 year. After 1 year and many complaints, they went with the Mark 1 membrane. The 440 is also a good membrane to try.

[maple2]

i put a new nf270 high speed membrain in my old memtec this year. guy i bought it from said it WOULD pess sugar over8% price was rite, though
$282

[lew]

How much sugar do they pass?