We're my nitre sand

[Brent]

I read somewhere that nitre can be used for polishing stuff like gems. So this year I emptied my filter bags into a big pot, topped it off with tap water (well water), gave it a stir to mix it, and let it settle.

So it settles and I note that it's fermenting a bit. So I pour off the clear water, add more fresh, stir and let it settle. I keep repeating this for about a week.

There's no nitre left! It all went back into solution. I thought this stuff was supposed to be insoluable.

[MillbrookMaple]

I think it is soluble. I could be wrong but I think that is why reversing your pans works to keep the build up down.

[Brent]

That sounds pretty logical.

So how crazy am I.

I bitch to Patrick Phaeuf about the preheater hood not collecting any condensaton. Ship it to him and he returns it repaired. I'm happy as a clamp getting 5 gallons of condensate every couple hours ... until I decide to check the condensate for sugar content ... wow ... it's 3.5%. I guess there's enough splashing in there to get sap up into the collection channels.

So I decide to recycle it. Then I have these filter bags that have all the nitre in them. I read on another thread that it was a good idea to soak the filter bags to get the sugars out before discarding them. Plunk them down into the condensate pail and a bit at a time, laddle that into the float box.

DUH ! Am I disolving and re-cycling the nitre too ?? It would seem so.

This is some crazy, hobby gone crazy, thing we're into.

[PerryW]

Funny, I've been dumping it out near my sugarhouse for the whole season, so (much to SWMBO's dismay) there were piles of varying color nitre on the lawn. From blond to tan to dark brown. WHen I just dumped the almost black nitre out of the prefilter from today's boil, I noticed the rain had leached the color out of all the previous nitre and all the piles were almost white.

[TF Maple]

Nitre is in solution before we boil the sap, so if you add plain water or sap to it, it will go back into solution. That is why reversing the flow works in a pan.

[Brent]

Same thing here. While I was trying to wash it the color went from dark to light blond to near white then it disolved and was gone. I had 4 cups of the goo in a kitchen pot. After 10 washings there was only a couple tablespoons left and it showed every sign of disolving away too.

So I thought this was the same stuff that coats the bottom of the pans and is a bitch to get off, and will not disolve without acid. Guess that idea was wrong too.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Friend has an extra finish pan and he sets it out under the condensate pipe and as it splashes into it and cleans it nice and shinny.

[vermaple]

Running water will dissolve nitre if you have time. Condesate water from a preheater, or permeate from an RO will remove it even quicker as there are fewer minerals in that water.