Spring Harvest 2019

The sap isn't running very good here either. Most of my woods will be running good while I get just a trickle from my coldest section. I had 775 gallons to boil last night which was the most so far this season. There are times in a normal season when I'll have 1,000 to 1,200 gallons to boil consistently.

I recirculated with my RO last night and got 22% out of it in two passes. My flow rates dropped as expected on the second pass but came right back when I went back to raw sap. I'm liking having the second tower and the MES membranes.

I bet you are. The second tower really sped things up for you.

Yesterday, processed 1776 gal of sap between mine, GZ, and RS from 2 days of collection. My sap runs are still 500-600 gpd. Grade dropped over maple weekend as usual (slow boiling), but I haven't been able to get it back since...frustrating. Solidly into a DR and sticking there. Made 30+ gal of syrup from 15% concentrate.

yes crappy runs. I am haveing the same issues with slow sap runs. take a couple of days to get enough sap to process. closer to the house most of the snow is gone. back in the woods is different story. still lots of ice around. the good thing is hopefully it will stall the trees a bit from popping the buds.

Need to catch up. The end of the week was quite busy. Made about 100 gal of syrup over three nights and didn’t get much sleep in the process. Held Saturday’s run till Sunday, so I could get some sleep. Sunday had almost 2100 gal of sap to process. SSC dropped below 2%. Only made about 40 gal though. I was expecting to make around 45 gal…numbers never seem to work out. Sap was warm and had a yeasty smell I the steam. Foam control becoming a higher priority.

Sunday morning, Jim and I reset the bulk tank, and I replumbed it, so it’s back in service. Glad to be back with the fourth tank. Tank is set on a better platform, so should no longer be an issue. Downside, is it’s about 12” lower than it was before, so more air to purge out of the piping to get the RO started when drafting from the tank.

Held yesterday’s run over for processing today. Have about 600 gal waiting at the sugarhouse.

Membrane is slowing down…not sure why. I’ve been benchmarking after all but two RO cycles, and I started the season at a perm. flow of 12.3, it settled in around 11.4-11.7, and now it’s down to 10.3. Washing after every use. Frustrated. Not sure what's going on, but need to figure it out.

Try a citric acid soak then soap wash. That can help sometimes.

Looks like it's time for an acid wash Josh. I'm glad that you've got your tank back in service. It makes life easier when you have all of the pieces working as they should.

Thanks for the tip. Are there any directions for an acid wash? I know it's real bad if you do it wrong because it can take a membrane from being too tight to too lose. How much permeate do I need on hand to the normal wash and then the acid wash? I normally only store 650 gal of permeate, but can put permeate in the concentrate tank if needed.

Current thought is I might have sugar in the permeate. Tested it with the refractometer and getting varying results. Last night, I ran the RO at 300psi and boiled down a 1/2 gallon of permeate to a cup. Tested 0%. Ran the RO at 350 psi and took another 1/2 gallon sample and reduced it. It's ready for me to test when I get to the sugarhouse. I'll test that and get another sampled at 400 psi. I normally run it between 350-400.

I don't have the container in front of me but an acid wash goes something like this.
1. Do a normal soap wash and then rinse.
2. Mix acid solution in wash tank to a ph of 2 then circulate it into the membrane.
3. Let it sit for 24 hours then drain and rinse.
4. Do another soap wash and rinse.
After that your membrane will be clean and flow rates should be back. I think you'll need to fill your sweet tank with permeate too. It takes a lot to do all of the rinses. On the rinses you only need to rinse enough to get the ph to the ph of the permeate which is usually around 6.5.

What are you running for a membrane now?

Thanks Russ. That's helpful. The guy at Webb says there's a run on citric acid, and he's out. Coming in from Rutland.

I have a new CDL membrane this season. I don't know why it's plugging up already. I think I'm doing everything I should be. Wash cycle after every use, using 680 gal of perm. during every use between all the rinses. Final rinse usually gets 400 gal of it.

I thought it might be plugging because the permeate was passing sugar. I ran the RO at both 300 and 350 psi, took 1/2 gallon permeate samples, boiled them both down to about a 8 oz. Tested for sugar, and came up 0%. Going to try at 400 psi tonight.

I'll need to figure out the best way to get perm. into both tanks. It's going to involve recirc'ing to fill the top tank with perm since I can't put concentrate there.

This is what I found on CDL's website. Not much help, but it at least tells me liquid volumes needed for various things. Says 1200 gal needed if doing an acid wash.
https://www.cdlusa.com/wp-content/up...18-english.pdf

More sap coming to the sugarhouse than I know what to do with. Took last night off to spend time with the kids, and backed up today. Worth it though. I'll have to hold some of it over for tomorrow and try to get the RO started sooner.

Huh, I'd say sap is walking here not running. Picked up 2/3 of the woods tank in 24 hours. 2/3 of gal per tap.

Running but not too much here today too. Wind is making up for it though, really blowing.

I bought my acid at Bascom's and I think it's from Leader. I have two 275 gallon totes for permeate tanks and I have them plumbed together at the valves so that they both fill at the same time. I can shut one off if I need to save some permeate for weak runs. I'm always overflowing them so I'm planning to replace them with 330's next year. That'll give me another 110 gallons before they're full.

The sap's been running pretty good here but not great. I'm getting .69 gpt per day according to my saptapapp. That's about normal for my trees on an average run. The swamp maples don't give much sap but they make good syrup and it's what I have.

right there with ya on the swamp maples!!!

that's a heck of a problem to have too much sap hmmm...... I wouldn't mind that problem. yes I would be tired but oh well thats the life of sugarmaker!!!

My sap is walking too, but when you take a day off, and then others did too, it turns into too much sap at once. Being at work, I can't get the RO machine going early enough to put a big enough of a dent in it. Ended up holding sap over till yesterday, so I at least got some sleep.

So that almost failed. Had electrical problems all day in the house, which since the house feeds the sugarhouse, meant big problems for me. Thankfully RS's uncle was able to come over after work, found out what the issue was (loose connection in the main disconnect that burnt out the breaker), swapped out the disconnect with a new one, and back in business at 6pm. Since I was already backed up with sap, I'm still not caught up because of the late start, but at least I'm still operating. Yesterday's stress level was pretty high!

Going to get caught up tonight, but it'll be a later night than usual to get there. I have 1100 gal sitting at the sugarhouse, 600 gal or more coming from RS, and I'll have another 500+ (I hope) from my woods. Getting things primed for an acid wash starting tomorrow morning. Hoping this brings the membrane back.

SSC is still doing OK, but it is coming down.

I think the niter is the worst I've seen it.

So Brad, 2018 is going to be the best yet...

I ran 650 through the RO tonight and am going to run what comes in overnight through tomorrow morning. I'm planning to boil tomorrow afternoon.

The nitre is the worst that I've seen here this year too. On a normal season I can get 20 gallons through the press with no problem. This season I can't get 10 gallons through without changing the papers. It's never been that bad here.

2612 gal into the sugarhouse today. Most sap ever processed. If I'm lucky, and the numbers will work, I'll break the 50 gal barrior.

RO didn't get going until after 4pm, and it's a bad for it to be slowing down. That extra 2gpm of permeate sure would be nice about now.

wow 2600 gallons thats crazy....

yeah I never updated the 2018 signature...