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Thread: Getting ready

  1. #111
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
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    Granville, PA
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    403

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    Dave, how are you? Sorry to hear about your having to postpone your Alaska trip. That is something that I have always wanted to do. I believe that we are all praying with you.
    The reason for cooling the syrup to 190 is that I have a Sheetz 5" press with a hand pump and have read that the diaphragm is rated for not hotter than 190. I have pushed it a few times but have not exceeded 200 degrees. Someday I will be big enough to warrant a filter press with a pump.
    I thought a lot about insulating and heating a room and like the idea in theory but I know that with my luck, eventually the propane bottle will go empty without my being ready or the heater will break or something else will happen (Murphy's law) and I will have a frozen RO with damage. In a root cellar, I only need to make sure that the door is closed. You raise a concern with the exhaust that I had thought about but did not address in my post. I plan to connect the muffler to an oversized flex exhaust pipe and run the piping out the wall. The floor elevation for the root cellar will not be below the surrounding ground and the gasses should excape every time the door opens as well as thru the drain.
    Matt,
    Minehart Gap Maple

  2. #112
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Lake County Ohio
    Posts
    1,628

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    [QUOTE=johnallin;357060]
    Quote Originally Posted by minehart gap View Post
    Through a lot of thought. I have decided that with being off grid, I will be purchasing a Deer Run 125 Expandable RO later this summer. With this decision, there is a snowball effect pertaining to additional planning. QUOTE]

    Lots of good info here; but I think this should be on another thread. This thread is about Dave.....
    Minehart...Sorry, I had this thread mixed up with Dave Klish's "On my Way"
    John Allin

    14x18 Hemlock Timber Frame Sugar House 2009
    Leader 2x6 w/Patriot Raised Flue Pan 2009
    Leader Steam Hood 2014 - Clear Filter Press 2015
    Leader Revolution Pan and SS Pre-Heater 2016
    CDL Hobby RO & Air Tech L25 Hi Vac Pump 2019
    06' Gator HPX to collect wood & sap
    14' Ski-Doo Tundra for winter work in the woods
    Great Family 3 grown kids+spouses and 7 grand kids who like the woods
    7th Gen Born in Canada - Raised in Chardon Ohio - Maple Capital of the World..<grin>.

  3. #113
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
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    Granville, PA
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    403

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    John Allan, not a problem. I hope that you found the thread that you were looking for.
    Dave, you really got me thinking and researching the exhaust issue. It seams that as long as i am increasing the diameter of the extension exhaust pipe by 1 1/2 the size of the existing exhaust pipe, there should not be restriction on the engine because of the exhaust. There is a limit on length of course, but I have not found that answer yet.

    This maple addiction is kind of fun.
    Its also a pain in the... but fun.

    I'm headed to the sugar shack tomorrow to hang more drywall in the kitchen area and possibly installing the cabinets. Hoping to make the cupola doors swing out instead of in and start clearing the path to extend the main line this weekend too.

    By the way, I have read and reread and then again I read the paper on adding air over fire. The paper stated that for a 30" wide x 8' arch, I would need a 1/2 power blower with up to 252 cfm's. I am looking to add a bounce house fan that will be equivalent to this but what I have not found an answer to is: is the blower sized to be used strictly for the air over fire or will that size blower power both air over and air under fire. I the stated blower is strictly for air over fire, how do I size a fan for air under fire? And an I correct that a fan can be used for air under fire?
    Last edited by minehart gap; 05-17-2018 at 08:11 PM.
    Matt,
    Minehart Gap Maple

  4. #114
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    poultney vermont
    Posts
    870

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    I tried a bounce house fan couple years back on an older 3x10 rig....these fans have so many cfm I had to divert 80 percent of the air so the fire and Ash wasn't blowing out of the firebox since it wasn't air tight. But it does work better than nothing, just have to get a happy medium with the airflow
    18x30 sugarshack
    5100 taps high vac
    3x10 inferno with steampan
    7'' wes fab filter press
    10'' cdl air filter press
    D&G 3 post reverse osmosis w/recirculation

  5. #115
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Granville, PA
    Posts
    403

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    This morning, I stopped at Ruben Peachie's sheet metal shop near Belleville PA. Nate was showing me a bottler that he had finished. IMG_20180601_110632.jpg
    The tank could be used as a filter tank to if a frame is added. The bottler measures 12" x 12" x 24", is made of 22 guage stainless (Tig welded) and he is asking $160.00 for it if anyone is interested in one.
    Matt,
    Minehart Gap Maple

  6. #116
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
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    Granville, PA
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    Had a slow June as far as maple is concerned, to busy making a little hay. Finally got a chance to get back to the sugar shack last weekend. All of the drywall in the"kitchen" is hung, built and installed the ladder for access to the loft and started to put the sub-floor down. I also got a lot of my fire wood brought to the sugar shack. I had cut and split about 3 cord but had it spread across half of my property.

    Next is to finish the floor and put my head tank up there. I plan to use my 250 gallon tank but only put 50 gallon or so of concentrate in it until I get a smaller tank. Also ordering my RO. I had hoped to order it last week but life got in the way a little.

    The drawoff tank is coming along. I only need to put on a elbow and valve. I plan to use a sanitary fitting on the end and be able to use a tri-clamp to connect my filter press to it.
    Matt,
    Minehart Gap Maple

  7. #117
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Granville, PA
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    403

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    July, finished getting almost all of the firewood. I want
    to bring in anotherr pick up load but I think that enough is ready for the season at this point.

    I have been doing a lot of invasive species control lately. Spice Bush and Multi Flora Rose are hard to kill. I finally found a mixture of tric, 2-4d and glysophate that works pretty well, just have to keep it away from the maples. I have a thicket that I am cleaning up and plan to plant super sweet maples there in a few years.

    My bush is a mix of maple, oak and hickory with cherry and poplar mixed in. I have a lot of oaf dying. All in groups of 3 to 5 trees dead in a bunch. Not sure what's going on. I haven't sprayed in the areas that they are dying, but I was planning on expanding my taps to that area this winter. For now, I'm cutting future firewood so they don't fall on my lines but I sure would like to know why they are dying.
    Matt,
    Minehart Gap Maple

  8. #118
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Granville, PA
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    403

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    Hi guys, I'm looking for a little help again. I picked up my Deer Run 125 expandable RO today. I assumed (incorrectly) the the 125 was the amount of sap input. It is the rating that is assigned to the membrane and my RO's pump is at 5 gal/min or 300 gal/hr.

    to add to this, at the end of the year last year, I purchased a new arch that evaporated at 34 gal/hr with not the greatest wood and no air hooked up. I am told that I can expect as much as 1/3 increase with air.

    All of that means that with my average sugar content of 1.25% last year (I have a lot of red maple) my evaporation rate could be (34*1.33=45 gal/hr) and to match my RO to that rate my concentrate will be (255 gal water removal * 300 gal/hr input = 0.85% water removed per hour therefore 1.25% sap / 0.15 concentrated volume = 8.3% concentrate)

    That means (using the modified Jones rule) that by putting 8.33% sap in my evaporator, or 87/8.33-1= 9.44 gallon of concentrate per gallon of syrup at 45 gal per hour evaporation could possibly yield 4.76 gallon of syrup per hour.

    I was aware that I would probably need an auto drawoff but I didn't think I could get this efficient.

    Last year i boiled 4 hours per gallon of syrup.

    Is my math (based on assumption) correct?
    Last edited by minehart gap; 10-12-2018 at 08:11 PM.
    Matt,
    Minehart Gap Maple

  9. #119
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,080

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    The pump reading is with no head. As you add pressure it will decrease the pumps output. The 125 it is rated for is probably pretty close to what you will get.
    Smoky Lake 2x6 dropflu pans and hoods on homemade arch
    Smoky Lake 6 gallon water jacked bottler
    Concentric Exhaust
    250 Deer Run RO
    325 taps

  10. #120
    Haynes Forest Products Guest

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    Matt you make the sport of sugar making look like the entire formula for the first landing on the moon. Yes you will WANT a auto draw off because you will be a busy guy and you want the consistence as much as the help. Once you get everything you have dialed in and adjusted to the best possible perimeters and you keep them there you sir will enter the blissful world of REPLICATION. Then your best friend will show up with some refreshments and all bets are off. best of luck with the up coming season. I don't understand the term "getting ready" Hell man we never stopped.

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