Maiden Voyage Deer Run Maple 125 Exp

[Pete S]

Well Saturday we ran our RO unit for the first time. Thank you "Maple Flats" for the reprint on the manual.

Although there is a manual there isn't much to tell you what to look for when running the unit. Here is what I did,............ so please feel free to comment:

1.) We had some (180 gal) frozen sap that tested at 3% sugar. I started the RO and saw that my concentrate tank was filling too quickly so I ran my pressure up on the filter. We tested the concentrate and found we were at about 7.2% up from the 3%. I ran a second batch and tried to monitor my flows AND pressure better and was running about .6 gpm on concentrate and 1+/- gpm on my permeate,.... and tried to keep my pressure at 270 psi. This resulted in 8.4% up from 3%.

Is this correct? This is totally "trial by error". ANY assistance you can give would be helpful.

2.) We have a head tank that doesn't just quite run totally dry. There is about 1+ gallon of concentrate in it. It is out of the sun and it's cool/cold. I probably won't boil for several days yet. Can this remain and just get blended in? Should I check to see if it is "fermenting" prior to adding,..............or just disconnect and clean it out.

Thanks!

[Clinkis]

In answer to question #2.....absolutely do NOT leave and concentrate in your head tank. I’ve learned this the hard way. It will spoil and potentially spoil the sweet in your pan if left too long. I always flush tank, pre heater and lines at the end of each run or it will smell like dirty socks the next time u fire up. You also need to ensure the float box doesn’t have sap that didn’t boil as well or you will get a ropey mess.

Dealing with concentrate is an entire different beast then dealing with raw sap

[MISugarDaddy]

As Clinkis stated, you want to clean out your head tank after each batch. One option is to pour some permeate in to move the concentrate out of the tank, unless you have another means to get your head tank empty.

Not sure about your 125 unit, but on our 250, we run it at 285 psi and can generally end up with 7.5% concentrate from 2% sap. Ray said that running it at 285 was fine as long as someone was monitoring it regularly. We made a mark on the glass of the pressure gauge with a fine tipped permanent marker so it is easy to see how the pressure is running at a glance. Once you get the pressure dialed in on a batch, it varies very little, so it isn't a problem to keep it there.

Having an RO will spoil you for life!!!
Gary

[maple flats]

With my 250 running at 270-275 PSI i can go from 2% to 7-8% depending on sap temperature in one pass, you are likely going to do about half that with a 125.
Do not leave any concentrate in the head tank, it will lower the quality of the next concentrate sent in. Clean the tank after every use, with permeate, hot if possible. Can you lift the head tank on blocks or similar to get more of the concentrate into the evaporator? A 2x4 or 2 might help on the end away from the outlet.
Plumb a drain into the line from the head tank to the evaporator, to drain as you wash the head tank.
If you lose 1 gallon of 8% it's like throwing away 4 gal of 2% sap every time or it's roughly equal to throwing away a little under 1 pint of finished syrup.
However, if you flushed the sweet off the membrane back into the head tank as stated in the manual for 5 minutes, and boiled that until you had 1 gal left, the sweet in the head tank was well under 8% by then. To be sure, if you can't find a good way to get the tail end in the head tank, flush for 6 or 7 minutes into the head tank and boil that before shutting down, you will have then cut the sugar % of that gallon left behind. Then wash the head tank with permeate and send to drain.