Spring Harvest 2012

[Amber Gold]

Another decent run yesterday...collected 400 gal and bought 200 gal...my sugar's down to 1.9% and didn't go up after the cold snap...bummer. Made another 10 gal last night. Unfortunately, we've been making DA since the weekend. I would've liked to have made a few more drums of MA before the switch. Been having a difficult time maintaining a gradient and consistent draws this year...think this is due to flying solo in the SH this year. Between running the RO, filter press, firing, drawing off and everything else, there's lots of running around.

[sapman28]

Josh,

It looks like we have about the same amount of taps And we also got 475 gals yesterday. 200 buckets and 650 on gravity tubing, but it ran all night between mon and tues. 1 load was 2% even and the other was 1.7%. Made 8 - 9 gals of borderline light to med. I wil call it med because I have an order for 16 gal of it. Our syrup is some of the lightest we have ever made and not showing signs of darkening. I am suprised you and Brad and russ are making darker syrup. I am also having problems with a consistent draw after changing sides last night. Good Luck.

Mike

[Russell Lampron]

I looks like you are getting better runs than I am here. That 7 or 8 degrees makes a big difference. When I am boiling alone I find myself getting into a groove and getting things done without making mistakes. I guess it's easier when I don't have to deal with distractions.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Josh - Only boiled 100 gals with the damper. Pretty difficult to prove anything in this business because of all the variables. But it appears that after closing the damper with the blower going, the front pan boils harder. Will it save wood or improve the syrup to wood ratio.....I do recall Nearing, a raging capitalist despite his profession, writing back in the 1940's of installing dampers on both his natural draft 5X15's (had 2 identical setups but only used one at a time in case of catastrophic fire) claiming they saved wood. No question the stacks are over sized after the units a retrofited with forced draft. And the floats/float boxes also are also not designed to cope with the higher evaporation rate of forced draft; a real challenge to maintain a gradient. Still completely tore between a bigger unit and an RO. Keep up the good work. Bruce

[Cardigan99]

Josh - Only boiled 100 gals with the damper. Pretty difficult to prove anything in this business because of all the variables. But it appears that after closing the damper with the blower going, the front pan boils harder. Will it save wood or improve the syrup to wood ratio.....I do recall Nearing, a raging capitalist despite his profession, writing back in the 1940's of installing dampers on both his natural draft 5X15's (had 2 identical setups but only used one at a time in case of catastrophic fire) claiming they saved wood. No question the stacks are over sized after the units a retrofited with forced draft. And the floats/float boxes also are also not designed to cope with the higher evaporation rate of forced draft; a real challenge to maintain a gradient. Still completely tore between a bigger unit and an RO. Keep up the good work. Bruce

Nearing was a raging capitalist?? What does that make Rand?

[Amber Gold]

Russ: the temp.'s have been working for me, but I hope it doesn't burn me at the end of the season.

Bruce: two years ago, I tried moving the back ramp around, but found if I moved it too far back to restrict flow, it did lower stack temps, but it seemed to move too much of the heat under the syrup pan and the boil in the back of the pan suffered. I think a damper would work better because it's further from the firebox...hopefully leaves the hot spot under the flue pan, and it's adjustable. IMO, if you're looking at a minor expansion, go w/ a larger evap. or a steamaway. If looking at a major expansion, get an RO.

Cardigan, Nearing's book is a good read, but who's Rand?

[Cardigan99]

Josh, Ayn Rand was the ultimate capitalist. Author of The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged etc. I think Bruce was joking re: Nearing.

[Amber Gold]

Figured as much...I didn't get the "raging capitalist" impression in reading his book Wasn't there some talk of him being a communist or something? Big deal back then.

[Cardigan99]

Yeah, I think he was part of some socialist organization.

[Amber Gold]

Collected 525 gal today which is from approximately 100 gal Wed. night, 200 gal yesterday, and another 200 gal today. Pulled the membranes out today to see if I could figure out why they're still passing. Made some modifications to the nipples per Russ's suggestions. Got the sap home only to find the feed pump on the RO won't turn over. I hunt, poke, prod, and can't find anything wrong. Make some phone calls and get some ideas. I poke and some more and still doesn't work. Pull the RO back out to look at the back of the pump and it works. I've determined there must be loose wire in the motor or maybe the motor's on it's way out...maybe why the RO's been tripping the breaker?? So long story short, RO's in position, feed pump is turning over, and all ready to make syrup tomorrow morning...going in late. Thought it'd be better to boil when it's low 20's instead of single digits.