Getting ready

[GramaCindy]

I find that each and every time that I start up a boil, I have to tweek so to speak, the cupola doors and windows to find the "sweet spot" for enough air intake to make up for all of the air and steam going out. I agree, a hood will definitely help.

[minehart gap]

Yahoo!!!!!! Just passed my first PA Dept. of Ag. Food Establishment inspection. I know that a lot of you have already gone through this and passed but you got to admit, the first time is kind of exiting. A whole lot of work went into a hour and a half inspection. Now I can relax for a day or two until its time to start tapping (like thats going to happen).

[Chickenman]

Good for you. I know the feeling. The first time our restaurant was inspected the inspector said to my wife and I, "I would eat here". We were walking on clouds that day. He said the same thing the second year too. We miss Harry. Hope he's enjoying retirement. ( were inspected by Dept of Ag because of our convenience store selling farm eggs and cheese.

[Abattoir]

Yahoo!!!!!! Just passed my first PA Dept. of Ag. Food Establishment inspection. I know that a lot of you have already gone through this and passed but you got to admit, the first time is kind of exiting. A whole lot of work went into a hour and a half inspection. Now I can relax for a day or two until its time to start tapping (like thats going to happen).

Going to be honest I was pleasantly surprised with this story. Congratulations!

[minehart gap]

Had our first boil this evening. I am impressed to say the least with our Deer Run RO. We got the 125 expandable. 200 gallon from bulk tank through the RO and boiled in 2 1/2 hours. Last year our average was 16 gallon per hour evaporation. I only ran the sap through once but what a difference. AUF/AOF worked wonders. And it's really cool to have the digital temperature readout on the auto drawoff.

I have a few bugs to get worked out, my float box/valve for my syrup pan did not do well at all and I need to figure out what to do with the concentrate line when I clean my RO. Also need to figure out the alarm on my Auber auto drawoff. I had some problems with it before season that bricklayer helped me with and may need to get in touch with him again. I don't quite understand parts of that manual.

All in all, great first boil.

[minehart gap]

I'm not quite sure which of the improvements made for this season I like the best. The front pan float box really makes life a lot easier. Last year the front pan was controlled with a ball valve so it constantly needed watched and changed.

The auto drawoff allows constant monitoring of the syrup temperature so I am able to adjust my fire feed time to get my best boil until I am able to get a thermometer in the flue.

The AOF/AUF picked up my boil to the point that I was not able to see my sap level most of the time.

The RO is just plain awesome. Talk about a time saver. This year will be a lot more fun than before.

[Paddymountain]

You'll save that much time you can come over the mountain and help me!!!!!!

[minehart gap]

I have completely overlooked one aspect of running a RO. My pans take about 480 gallon to sweeten (if i have calculated correctly). As of Valentines Day I had collected 810 gallon of sap but was only able to get to 15% in my pan, of coarse I had reduced the sap to about 2/3 volume. On the 15th, I finally mad syrup!!!

The Auber auto-draw off worked beautifully (I still haven't had time to look at the alarm). I needed to increase the depth in the front pan because of the volume of a draw due to the blower and fan giving a hotter fire. My temperature probe would be above the syrup level after about 45 seconds of the draw and therefore close the valve and then as soon as the front pan would fill up again, there would be another draw. I slowed down my throttle valve (before my drawoff valve) as much I could until the syrup temperature would rise about 1.5 degrees above syrup temp. then I determined that I just needed to raise the sap level in the front pan. That slowed things down for a little bit. Something that I need to look for is the formula for determining the boiling point of water based on pressure and elevation. Does anyone have that equation?

I did something very wrong when I attempted to filter the syrup. I mixed the earth and pumped it through the filter press and when finished the syrup was a muddy mess. This is the same press that I had last year and did not have any problems. There was absolutely no earth on the papers and I am positive that the waffle plates and cavity plates were installed in the correct direction. The only thought that I have is that I had installed the papers just out of position enough that the holes were allowing everything through and not filter anything. big mistake.

[minehart gap]

I picked up bottles last Monday, our new labels arrived yesterday from Syrup Labels (they really look good), have syrup waiting and the sap is flowing like mad. Oh, and I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning the RO and washed the evaporator. Weather looks like it's going to be a great week or longer.

[Cjadamec]

When adjusting your boiling point temp you only need to take into account your local observed atmospheric pressure. It the pressure that matters not the elevation.

The basic equation is this:

BPcorr = BPobs – (Pobs – 760mmHg) x 0.045 oC/mmHg

BPcorr - is boiling point at sea level 100C
BPobs - is the temperature corrected for pressure degrees C
Pobs - is the local pressure measured by your barometer in mmHg

So this morning based on the accuweather pressure (769.62 mmHg) in Grainville PA your boiling point of pure water is

100C = BPobs - (769.62mmHg - 760 mmHg) x 0.045 C/mmHg

Solve for BPobs you get

BPobs = 100 - (769.63-760) x 0.045
BPobs = 99.567C (which is 211.22F in American units)

Before you think I'm smart I just copied this from this webpage.

Depending on the accuracy of your draw off thermometer this calculation might be a little bit of over kill.