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One of the ~40 sugar maples we tap is next to my house. It’s a great producer as it gets sun all day and is about 40 years old. My son told me yesterday that there was a loud hum at the tree and...

My partner and I have a hobby operation with about 40 taps on all sugar maples. He is a dairy veterinarian and I am a mechanical engineer working 60 miles from home. My long commute and his...

A DIY'er here. I've got my 2-400 GPD homemade RO system ready to plumb. I got a great deal of input from here and also from YouTube (from many MapleTraders as well as others). As I get ready to...

I haven’t mastered putting pictures online but there’s no reducers. The plumbing is very simple. 1/4” male npt with 3/8” hose barbs. Brass ball valves with 1/4” female npt ends. Everything,...

I looked yesterday and I have the 3 cfm vacuum pump. Before you give up on your filter, spend the $95 on the 2.5 cfm pump and give it a try. The difference between a vacuum pump and a shop vac...

Okay - go to www.harborfreight.com and search for vacuum pump. Two Pittsburgh Forge models come up - a 2.5 cfm and a 3.0 cfm. I’m not sure which one I have without looking as they look identical...

Yes, the vacuum pump is not quiet but it’s quieter than a shop vac and much smaller. When I was researching this a few years ago to start the project, someone on here mentioned the Harbor Freight...

I designed and built my own vacuum filter/bottler and it works beautifully. I hear some on here mention using a shop vac. I have a vacuum reservoir with a vacuum gauge on it. When I connect it to...

Does anyone use a wire wheel or fiber cup brush or scotch brite pad attached to a disc grinder to clean their pans at the end of the season. It seems that there should be an attachment that would be...

Thanks Ron. Somerset's not that far away (I'm in Mercersburg - Franklin County). We do have a strong Amish presence up Path Valley and over the mountain in Perry County where we tap and make syrup....

I had a source for used food grade totes that were previously used for apple juice. That source no longer has any. Does anyone know of a source of used 275-gallon totes in the south central...

I'm having a hard time finding the Vollrath double pans (roughly 2' x 2' x 8"). My old sources either say discontinued or don't list them at all. I'm pretty sure the model number was 92082. I have...

To answer your questions:
- Yes, it was one orlon filter for 1 micron (started with a 5 micron orlon but it went through so fast when the vacuum was applied that we changed to the thicker 1-micron...

I decided to build my own vacuum filter since last season. We made 9 gallons of syrup last season and that has been in gallon glass jars in a refrigerator since March so Mother Nature did a lot of...

Thanks Dr. Tim, I never thought about the vacuum oil mist. How far away from open syrup would you consider a safe distance? I can run a longer hose from the vacuum pump to the filter if it's a...

Thanks TapTapTap. I tried to find fittings for the Acme NPT but couldn't find any. Ended up just putting teflon tap on a regular NPT hose barb and screwed it in. There's enough thread engagement to...

Over the last few months I have designed an built a 2-stage vacuum syrup filter. I will post up about it with pictures after testing. Last March I got the Pittsburgh Automotive 3cfm 2-state vacuum...

Thanks D. I have another question that would apply to all vacuum filter assemblies. When I filter with gravity through cone filters, I put about 3 pre-filters inside the cone filter and as the...

DRoseum,

I like your filter and plan to do something very similar. I have a question: do you not get leakage where the silicone tubing ends meet on the pot seal or have you bonded these ends...

Excellent. Thanks all. There are so many choices with Swagelok and they are readily available. They are expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Thanks Maple Flats. I agree. Looking around the internet, it seems like there a lot of components available through home beer brewing supply houses. They appear to be identical to the Swagelok...

I don't know if this question belongs here or in a more general forum, but here's my question: Are stainless steel Swagelok fittings and valves considered food safe for use in maple syrup...

Thank you both for replies. I’m more and more convinced that it was sour or spoiled sap and another lesson learned the hard way. In the future I won’t boil sap more than a week old and I’ll just...

We were doing our last boil of the season yesterday- probably ~110 gallons of sap collected and stored over the last 2 weeks. We boil one batch over a 2 makeshift evaporators burning wood. It’s not...

There have been several threads on this topic if you search. I, too, used the bags this year with the homemade PVC holders and I love them. I have no intention of reusing the bags. They’re...