Snow fleas in sap

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Last weekend was our first gathering of sap, and the pails had hundreds of snow fleas in the sap. even with a plastic lid on they still got in the pails. we filtered the sap but wonder if anyone else has this problem?

[Russell Lampron]

It happens every season, some trees have a lot of them while most have none at all. You will see lightning bugs and moths as the season progresses too. Just filter the sap before you boil it and you will be all set.

[psparr]

Had one bucket out of about 70 that was black with them.

[BnSmaple]

I have had a lot more snow fleas as well. Doesn't take long to plug up our milk sock filters

[Michael Greer]

I'm using a "Mesh Filter Bag for Five Gallon Pail" that I found in the McMaster-Carr catalogue to filter my sap before it goes into the tank. They come in a variety of fine mesh sizes, and the finest ones will remove junk as fine as dust without slowing the flow. You can dump probably 500 gallons through them without even thinking of clogging, and they rinse right out. They're easy to install, and quite sturdy.

[GV2]

Mike,

I went to the McMaster-Carr web page and tried some searches for "Mesh Filter Bag for Five Gallon Pail". The maximum diameter I could find is 8" which would not cover a 5 gallon pail. Is there a link you can provide? Or perhaps you adapted one of the filters that comes up when you put in the search text you provided. Would love to move on from clothing pins and cheese cloth!

[jmp]

Have heard that old pantyhose work great on regular buckets. Not sure if they will stretch that far for a 5 gallon pail though. Good luck.

[Gissert]

We take old t-shirts or dis towels and cut them a bit larger than the opening on our IBC tote. Any sap that goes in there get poured through the cloth that is cliped to the opening with clothespins.

Last year they were really thick.

[psparr]

I use a large potato salad bucket with the bottom cut out. That fits in a hole in my poly drums. I put a prefilter in the potato bucket and fold the filter over it. Fits great and doesnt slip in.

[SlopYourDripper]

9273I pour the sap thru a strainer funnel from a homebrew supply co. when I empty my jugs into my collection container (5 gal. spring water jug with a handle). It sits in the neck of the 5-gal. jug, but also has a tab that allows it to be hung on the lip of a bucket or pail. It does a good job of straining out bugs, bits of tree bark and other debris prior to boiling. After boiling to "near syrup" I filter thru a Chemex paper coffee filter before the final boil on the stove, then a final filtering before bottling thru another Chemex filter. Of course, I'm just a one-man "backyarder" with a very manual operation!

[Michael Greer]

GV2, Try 264OK68. The ones with the drawstring are very nice, and super easy to install and remove.

[maplerookie]

what. You mean you have to filter the sap? Seriously I didn't know what those little critters were. snow fleas... I am thick with them on a couple of my silvers but none on the sugars. they filter right out. I use a prefilter in my tomato juicer nothing gets through that then I filter as it comes off the arch then filter again after finishing on the stove. I am amazed at the junk you find in it as you boil though. Us back yarders sure do a lot of work to get it clean. all well worth the time and effort. One day I may graduate to a real set up. hope it is cleaner. burning wood is indeed a dirty business.

[GV2]

Thanks Mike. I just place an order for a couple of the 5 gallon filter bags. I went with 300 microns hoping that will be about right. What a great website! thanks again!

[ren46]

Heres a link to Snow Fleas (Springtails) explaining what they are. I have a ton of them in my woods also and as usual they tend to get into my buckets. They filter out easily along with the rest of the debris.

Ren

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/snow_flea.htm

[Twindadx2]

I have a lot of snow flea's here in Ontario as well. It's funny how they get into the sealed buckets. They filter out easy though and have had no issues. I use a pre-filter on a homemade bracket that fits on my collection barrel