craptacular end to my season.

[BSD]

What a crap way to end the season, I ruined the last 15 gallons of syrup i drew off. apparently my filter out of the head tank got contaminated and was ruining the sap as it passed through, as i was finishing it over the last few days i could tell there was something a little off. i have 10 gallons finished inside and another 4-5 gallons of nearup out in the pans. The syrup is cloudy despite my usual filtering method and has a weird after taste.

Tomorrow i'm going to dump the pans and scrub them, and rip the **** filter housing out, set it on fire, smash it with a hammer and maybe use it for target practice for good measure.

Very doubtful i'll make much more syrup this year unless they run like they did at the start of the season (not very likely). this sucks. so much for selling any real amount of product to put towards next years upgrades.

16191

[DrTimPerkins]

What was your filter contaminated with? How do you know it was your filter?

[BSD]

What was your filter contaminated with? How do you know it was your filter?i believe the filter housing was heating up in the sunlight and causing the filter to taint the sap as it passed through. it was cold, but i believe it heats up like a greenhouse effect. when i checked it today, there was a definite aroma coming from the housing and the sap looked like soapy dishwater after it thawed.

[jmayerl]

That sounds unrealistic unless you never changed the filter in the housing all year. I assume you are referring to a filter like a whole house filter.

[Waynehere]

Usually when I start smelling that odd smell and can taste it as well, that is usually the budding taste. No matter how often you change your filters or keep your tanks clean, you won't be able to get rid of the budding taste, and your season is done. Your filters and tanks will get that sour smell after just one run, especially near the end of the season. I wouldn't rip out that filter just yet. Maybe you can try to cover it to keep the sun off it though?

Good luck with your hospital stay. Nothing serious I hope.

[hodorskib]

I have had a hard time getting sap through the RO this week - thought it was fouled membranes so gave them a good wash and scrubbed out housings. Sap was clear and around 35º and syrup has been some of the lightest I have made all year. The weird thing is there has been a slight yeasty smell to the sap coming out. Syrup tastes fine and is crystal clear but not sure what is going on with the trees after that freeze there is definitely something plugging up the water filter and membranes. Will collect tomorrow and then pulling out.

[BSD]

That sounds unrealistic unless you never changed the filter in the housing all year. I assume you are referring to a filter like a whole house filter.i've changed it a few times and washed in between runs, but i'm still quite certain that's the source of my problem. i'm going to test boil a gallon direct from the head tank and another gallon direct from the pans (which as been run through the filter already) and see where the problem is.

[hodorskib]

please post what you find out - I actually had this happen back in 2013 - similar situation with a warm-up followed by a cold snap. Again I thought it was the RO but looking at my logs I am thinking it is something coming out of the trees that was caused by the weather.

[BreezyHill]

The filter will fall to degradation of any sugar that is on the filter media. When this is contaminated it will contaminate all product that flows through it.

Have the filter on a quick disconnect fittings so it can be removed if there is a problem.

Warm temps expedite the bacteria growth.

Consider a screen media that can me rinsed off daily. it can even be set into the back pan and the boiling sap will kill any bacteria.

20+ years of filtering sap you learn a few tricks.

Good Luck!
Ben

[BSD]

The filter will fall to degradation of any sugar that is on the filter media. When this is contaminated it will contaminate all product that flows through it.

Have the filter on a quick disconnect fittings so it can be removed if there is a problem.

Warm temps expedite the bacteria growth.

Consider a screen media that can me rinsed off daily. it can even be set into the back pan and the boiling sap will kill any bacteria.

20+ years of filtering sap you learn a few tricks.

Good Luck!
Ben
i had a metal screen filter but felt it wasn't catching enough, so i went a household type filter, which is looking like the culprit at this point. Lesson learned, pre-rinse the filter with hot water and dispose of it daily, if i decide to leave it inline next year. I'm trying to isolate my problem by testing different batches from the tank vs what went through the filter into the pans already, that discussion is here -> http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?30456-Running-sap-thru-a-water-filter

[Mike Van]

this season has been one of the worst I can remember for long spans between runs - Some because it wouldn't freeze, others 'cause it would't thaw. Those couple of 70 degree days didn't help either. If my pickup pails sit for more than a few days with a lid on, they'll stink, I have to use a little bleach & water on them. I use an old milk strainer with cheese cloth for a filter, it gets washed after every use, and replaced a few times in the season. I can see one of the canister type getting contaminated. Sad Matt, lot of work gone to waste -

[Spanielslovesappin]

I have been noticing a bunch of references to filters between head tanks and evaporators. This practice kind of surprises me as i feel that adding any potential clog point between the two is asking for burnt pans.

We always just filter as it transfers in to the sugar house storage with a course suction y strainer on the transfer pump inlet and a washable bag filter where it enters the storage tank. I have never had any issues with debris, quality or filters imparting a taste as bag filters are cheap as well as easy to clean and dry.

I fully understand and endorse the need to use a micron rated cartridge style water filter in advance of an RO to protect the membrane from debris but think that at any other point it's probably overkill and in the case of mounting it in the evaporators gravity feed line down right risky.

[DrTimPerkins]

I have been noticing a bunch of references to filters between head tanks and evaporators. This practice kind of surprises me as i feel that adding any potential clog point between the two is asking for burnt pans.

We always just filter as it transfers in to the sugar house storage with a course suction y strainer on the transfer pump inlet and a washable bag filter where it enters the storage tank. I have never had any issues with debris, quality or filters imparting a taste as bag filters are cheap as well as easy to clean and dry.

This is the common approach. Most people don't filter between the head/feed tank and evaporator for exactly the reason you mentioned.

[BreezyHill]

We have filter for many years prior to the releaser to eliminate anything getting stuck in a flapper valve. With the current system I have to much flow even for a sock filter from the electric releaser. after blowing out a dozen I gave up and just use the filter prior to the RO. I am often surprised what you see on the media.

I totally agree if you have to have a filter of some sort prior to the evap then a screen is the only style as if you slow the flow to much you risk a pan failure due to low level of sap.

If you had to run one I would only run a clear globe unit and a clear feeder line for a distance and check it every time you fuel the rig just to be safer...still would worry me.

Best of Luck!

[BSD]

If you had to run one I would only run a clear globe unit and a clear feeder line for a distance and check it every time you fuel the rig just to be safer...still would worry me.

I'm still working on my hypothesis that the clear housing is creating a magnifying glass effect and making all sorts of bacteria growth, even in freezing temps while exposed to brief morning sun and indirect light the rest of the day.

With my 5 micron filter i estimated I could run at 70+ GPH flow, my arch won't run that fast until i get a blower on it. i never had this one show any signs of plugging up, putting as much as 600 gallons through per filter
with the 30 micron i used it seems like it'll top out at around 50 GPH flow rate. this one could get me into trouble if it plugs up too much on me.
i did use a 50 micron one time and that one was trouble, after 300 gallons it plugged slowly on me and i almost had a burnt pan do to that.

Going forward next year i will switch to filtering before it hits the head tank. this year I was using my transfer tank from the truck as my head tank by pulling it out and putting it up on a pallet rack in my building, then hooking up the plumbing and going into the evaporator.

[DrTimPerkins]

With my 5 micron filter i estimated I could run at 70+ GPH flow,...
with the 30 micron i used it seems like it'll top out at around 50 GPH flow rate.
i did use a 50 micron one time and that one was trouble, after 300 gallons it plugged slowly on me ...

That just doesn't make any sense at all to me. A smaller micron rating means it has finer pores, will filter more "stuff" out, have a lower flow rate, and should plug faster. A bigger micron rating will run faster, catch less, and you should get far more sap through it before it plugs. You sure you got that right?

[motowbrowne]

I'm sorry about the craptacular situation. Two things, though. One, I'm with these guys about a filter between your head tank and cooker. Just seems like you're asking for trouble. I don't want anything that can interfere with that flow rate between the tank and the float. No way, no hoe. Second, I really just can't see how if you're running at 70gph that the sap has enough time in the filter to be contaminated with bacteria. How long would it be in there, a minute? Less? Then how long until it's boiling, another minute? Just doesn't seem like a likely culprit to me,i guess.

[BSD]

That just doesn't make any sense at all to me. A smaller micron rating means it has finer pores, will filter more "stuff" out, have a lower flow rate, and should plug faster. A bigger micron rating will run faster, catch less, and you should get far more sap through it before it plugs. You sure you got that right?sorry, got those backwards. precisely the opposite.

On to today's findings. So last night i boiled 225 gallons. rather than rip out the housing, and have to figure out the plumbing for one last boil i decided to just go with the filter one last time. I boiled the filter for 20 minutes in the house, then flushed water through it for a few minutes and then hooked it (30 micron) up and ran. it went through all the sap, but was slowing at the end of the boil. This morning i collected 40 gallons that trickled in for the last run of the season (likely at least). Last night we had low temp of around 35 degrees. so pretty cool, but not cold. This morning I hooked up the tank to the plumbing and opened the valve (not dumping into the pan, just onto the ground). Well, guess what, that 30 micron i used was plugged up solid. hardly a trickle would make it through the filter. I opened up the housing and removed the filter and sure enough, rotten/sour smell from the filter. I cleaned the housing and ran the last 40 through just the housing, sans filter cartridge. I'm now about 99% sure that's the source of my sour syrup i made. I don't really understand how the filter could have gone bad from 9pm last night to 9am this morning with the temperature around 35 degrees. I bottled up a sample of the sap i was boiling (no filtering) and bagged up the filter cartridge and stuck them in the fridge for future investigation.

[DrTimPerkins]

Is this just a standard filter or a carbon filter?

[BSD]

pleated paper cartridge, 30 micron rating.

[DrTimPerkins]

pleated paper cartridge, 30 micron rating.

I'd just take it out right now. If it plugged that fast, then you stand a chance of losing sap to your evaporator and burning your pans AND making poor tasting syrup. Take it out and see if the flavor improves.