Hop Kiln Road 2013

Banana Beach, New Hampshire 03304

Happy Valentines Day! Oh we're in for one treemendous, super sap season and I started it off right. Just took M to the beach for Valentines day and she loved it! I got the lawn chairs from the cellar and the huge brooder lamp she gave me for Christmas, and slipped on my speedo while she whipped up an extra large bucket of her famous Dirty Banana Daiquiris. I skimmed coated a little coppertone and put Mike Love and the Wilson brothers on the boombox and we just basked in the heat and knocked back about half the bucket. Then for my ole piece-de-resistance, my tour da la la force, my, my, oh, oh why I slid Endless Summer into the VCR. Aloha, did that clean out the pores. Just around the time the boys got their boards around to the 80 mile beach around the corner from Perth, and I was getting sweaty around the heat and feeling around of woozy, M was pouring around and must've noticed, cause she says, "Treat, isn't this around the time you hang ten around your own backyard?" Well, pow and bubbles, hit me like gnarly drilling: whoa dude, you can't be bumming around hot chickie beaches surfing your youth away! Forget the a priori weather people running us around in circles. Ten? That's my sign to hang five hundred! I'm in.

Thats awesome!!! Love it!!! Glad you had fun at the beach LOL!!!! :)

Bruce in a speedo...

Way to go Bruce.

Good luck with the new season and RO.

Tapped out in carharrts and gaiters,
Sugary boys all fidgety as idle waiters

While deep snows pile higher and higher
Awaiting Nature’s cherished sweet flyer.

In woodsheds stowed full of neat ranks
Where even the wee wash their big tanks,

And buckets and buckets, and buckets galore,
Hung with Saint Nickolas pray, and then more:

Tubing arrayed in webs snug so tight
By old and young a snowshoe all night.

To the dark hillsides' whine with a sucker's hiss,
Headlamps twinkle and search a fitting amiss.

Long they march and toil late, frozen evenings
Gauging their new fangled electric squeezings;

Each steam dream hopes tis Felicity they snag,
Even lest risk one scorches a sisterly hag.

Woe, many nary draw a frosted glimpse hoary,
Let alone the sweet sought kiss of their quarry.

For down from the border she quietly wings,
The brightest light orb she so quickly brings.

Blink, aye, cause only a moment she tarries,
For it must be with all flighty fairies

And tis back north she so nymphfully scurries
While foolish forecasters still call cold flurries.

So sulks many a brave and hearty stoker forlorn
Fancy's hasty flight to the sound of her mother’s horn.

Very nice.

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

No runs yet but all the lines are streaming real pretty. Cold, snow, but the trees are pushing. Buckets aren't out yet. Got evaporator assembled and the water boil done tonight, couple little leaks, and the sugarhouse all cleaned. Feed tank is full and orchard tanks are gaining. Tested some sap at 2.8. Just got to assemble the RO, rinse the membranes and we're off...Got to be! Weather says spectacular season! No back up syrup pan, yet. Flat out with non maple stuff.

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Same here! We just need some sun to get things flowing. It looks like we should get that from Sunday on.

And there's the annual poem. Nice job.

Looks like its really going to start this weekend!! Hold on boys!! :)

How did you like boiling concentrated sap? I squeeze the crap out of mine because I like the large and constant draw offs.

Them boiling sodas taste pretty good after a shot of hot syrup. Or is it the other way around!

Same here with the forecast! The only thing I don't like is the lack of sun until Thursday.

Line up some more taps! Some fine trees around bow..study tax maps for the owner of the lost sugarbush. Get out into that snow,,pull new line...go man go...or...now that you have a squeezer a sucker might be in order..maximize that flow..don't kick back and nap like a weezer. Go man go!!!

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

25* this morning and light snow until noon, then it ran .5gpt by 5PM. Tree are still snowed in and some of the lines are buried. Still snow on top of all the tanks. Jugged 10 gal of light from the 1st boil yesterday. Still developing a system.

Well, to be honest Professor Lampron, it is a little boring. First you sit around watching the RO RO. Then, after a couple of hours, you fire the rig and crack the draw off on one side for 30 minutes and then switch sides. So it gives you plenty of time to do other things. Either I'm going to have to find a hobby or I'm going to take a bunch of beer down to the SH.

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You're doing it wrong Bruce! You don't sit around and watch the RO RO. You get enough sap in the feed tank for the RO so that you can run it for a little while and then you go gather more sap to keep it going. If you have all of your sap gathered there must be something that needs your attention while the RO is ROing. I know that there is always plenty to do here.

Yesterday for example we pumped the sap up the hill. While the sap was pumping we turned the vacuum pump on. Once the sap was pumped we got the RO ROing. The wife was making maple coated nuts and wanted us to try some. They were good. The RO is still ROing. We ate lunch. The RO had been ROing for about 2 hours at this point. We flushed the sugar out of the RO then started a rinse cycle. While the RO was rinsing we went down to the releaser to check the vacuum level and to see how much sap was coming in. At that time we timed the dump cycles and found that we were getting 100 gallons per hour. The sun hid behind the clouds and the sap flow slowed. Then we went back up the hill and got the RO ROing again. Next it was time to move a cord of wood up to the outdoor wood furnace. Time to check the RO again before going in for dinner. RO squeazing just fine. Go in for dinner, lazagna, yummy. Now it's time to boil. The concentrate is at 18%, Sweet! Guest come to check out the sugar house and to take pics and stuff. Guest leave, grab a boiling soda, get wash cycle started on RO and continue boiling. Boy I'm getting tired just typing this. Done boiling and it is time to check and correct the density of the syrup if needed. Not needed tonight, density is right on the money. Run syrup through the filter press and call it a night. Too tired at this point to can the syrup!

Ditto what Russ said, and I'm tired just reading it. While the RO's working, I'm working as well. Walking the woods, hauling sap, cleaning the SH, heating syrup, talking to customers, and etc. There's always something to do.

Bruce, I spent the other night boiling with the cold float box dumping into the wrong side of the flue pan. Couldn't figure out why the flue pan was boiling like crap...went to switch sides the next day on startup and realized it.

Club Med!! Far from it! The midnight oil was burning here last night. Richard got the RO ROing too late and we had to boil less than optimal concentrate. Wish I didn't have to work my regular job. It cuts into my sugaring time too much.

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

Ran part of the night and all day, almost a gpt although I won't call the conditions all that good. Je T'aime de K-bec said her membranes really like a special soap so I took care of it. Rinsed the feed tank. And the Vanquish stayed in the garage. Filtering backing up after ten gallons or so and when the concentrate starts to get over 10% Lost a couple of pints here and there to the floor, mostly me just being giddy. My new Smokey Lake canner thermostat is being temperamental, but got a plan to modify it. However, water bath is far superior for syrup quality. So the first run, a 4gpt tease, is probably ending with the storm and wind and cold over the next couple of days and we'll start again Saturday. Bigs runs are still 2 weeks ahead. Give me a little time to regroup.

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So you're liking the new squeezer I take it. What's this filtering issue? You trying to filter as it's going into your draw off bucket? I can see where a big draw off would be a problem with that method. I collect all of mine in my 22 gallon finisher and run it through the filter press when I am done boiling.

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

Picked up a gpt tonight, 36*, 8" of snow on the tanks and the pipes were running hard. And now its going to gush. Saturday might be my first day to process a 1000 gal. So Russ, if an RO passing sugar, how do you fix it?

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If it's an issue with a seal on the membrane or an improper installation it can be as simple as replacing the seal or properly installing it. Sometimes the brine seal can get torn or installed in the wrong direction so that the concentrate flows past it. If all of that checks out it's a problem with the membrane itself.

How much sugar are you passing?

Hey Bruce, on the filtering. Next season may see a new more effective process that would work from the draw like you are doing now. Very much suited to small operators. If you can I would hold off on that big purchase. If you think you are loosing sugar it may be from boiling 10% sap, especially if you have a steam hood on your flue pan. The pan can boil hotter and pop that sugar right out of the pan. I have been looking for our sugar loss since last season. Keep checking the RO but no sugar loss there. Yesterday I was using some of the condensate from the steam hood and noticed that it was foamy. Just as a lark I tested it and what do you know 1.8% sugar in water that before I went over 5% in at the FP was always 0.0%. There may be other places we are loosing sugar too (like when we left the head tank valve opened without hooking up the line to the evaporator and pumped 45 gallons of 8% onto the ground) I am still looking! Dan

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

Not sure if I'm passing sugar yet. The sap hydrometer says .4 but the refractometer, zeroed out with evaporation condensate says 0. But I think I'm missing sugar and the ends of the membrane housing are dripping and the drips appear to be increasing. Now the seal on the membrane would be the v-gasket and the brine seal would be the o-rings on the cover ends?

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To check for sugar in your permeate boil down some permeate at about a 20:1 ratio. If there is sugar in it it will be easier to measure. I tossed my sap hydrometer because the paper had moved in it and it wasn't accurate. I use distilled water to calibrate my refractometer. The condensate from the steamhood can have sugar in it.

The brine seal is the v groove seal on the outside of the membrane. If it is installed backwards it will let sugar pass and if it is torn it will too. It seems that every RO uses a different membrane housing. Not sure what you have and what is causing the leak.

Well Bruce it looks like it is time to tear into that RO and find out where the sugar is passing. This probably a stupid question but you are keeping the RO in a heated room right? Hopefully it's something simple. If it's the membrane it is very hard to get warranty coverage. You have to prove to the manufacturer that it wasn't misuse or neglect on your part.

Good luck on the membrane warranty. I tried last year when mine were passing sugar and was told that running at 300 psi was too high. Told him almost every producer's running there's at 400+ psi...didn't matter.

Pull the membrane's out and make sure they were installed correctly, the brine seal's facing the right way, and there's no rips/torn/rolled o-rings.

That's great to hear about them taking care of you like that, and I can't believe you were passing that much sugar.

I'm glad to hear that you've got the sugar passing problem fixed. It is nice when somebody stands behind their product.

I have an XLE membrane in my RO and I have been hammering it this year. I run it at 400psi and concentrate in the 12% to 18% range with no sugar passing. I baought a new NF270 and have that waiting in the wings for when we get big enough sap runs to need to change it out. So far the XLE is handling the sap volume and pressure.

Bruce if your going to be around Thursday afternoon around 6 me and the wife would like to stop by and check out your place and the new RO. Keith

Here where the wind is always north-north-east
And children learn to walk on frozen toes,
Wonder begets an envy of all those
Who boil elsewhere with such a lyric yeast
Of love that you will hear them at a feast
Where demons would appeal for some repose,
Still clamoring where the chalice overflows
And crying wildest who have drunk the least.

Passion is here a soilure of the wits,
We're told, and Love a cross for them to bear;
Joy shivers in the corner where she knits
And Conscience always has the rocking-chair,
Cheerful as when she tortured into fits
The first cat that was ever killed by Care.

Edwin Arlington Robinson

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

22* this AM with more than a foot of new snow. Oh goodness. Now I find they're already sucking and squeezing and, lord knows, BUBBLING. Told M after her coffee, they sit around partying and dreaming up these $ings. They've probably even got snowblowers! M said, "Treat, sounds like it's going to be a long week."

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Ha Ha Ha! Surprised you didn't spit your coffee all over your key board. I'm a pretty happy camper this morning. This new Bubblemaster 1.0 is fun to play with if nothing else.

PS, I don't have a snow blower!

They may be the same, but find me a single woods where I can set up and get 2.4% average sap for the season. It takes time to set up/take down every year in multiple spots, then there's the time it takes to collect from those different spots to get the sweet stuff. I'll stick with the woods trees and thin/fertilize them so I can get that average up from say 1.6% to 1.8-2.0%. Also, we're at 21gpt now, we should finish much higher than that if it ever warms up.

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

We'll see. Many different ways to do it. I need to average slightly under a gpt per day over the next 12 days, which is historically doable for my trees on these dates, to make my goal.

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It's going to start warming up this weekend. If it doesn't warm up too much we could see good runs well into April. I think you will make your goal and then some. I only need to make 68 gallons of syrup to meet my goal of .25gpt.

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

Surprised how many people toured yesterday. And like Russ has always said, after they sample the various colors, most want NH Fancy. Sold all of last year's leftover B. Don't even have tree wells here yet, so the big runs are yet to come.

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This weekend was no exception. The grade B was flying off the shelf. Had more requests for that than any other grade. Had to can more up 3 times over the weekend. Made a good dent in what I made earlier in the season. Had one customer that asked "It's too early to be making grade B isn't it?" My son told him that we make what the trees give us. He then asked if we have an RO to which my son replied "yes". The guy says "thats cheating isn't it" and got in his truck and left. I'm glad he didn't get a free sample of the ice cream and syrup.

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Originally Posted by Hop Kiln Road

Well the old sap came to a stop! Just bumping a 100 gal. Still plenty of snow here and the ground is frozen. An overnight freeze will get it restarted.

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I don't know about down there in the tropics but up here we got into the upper 20's overnight. Not much of a freeze but it usually don't take much here.

Yep Russ is correct 29 here wednesday night. Last night looks like 33 here now could still go lower.